21st Week, Saturday, Sept 2
1 Thessalonians 4:9-12: Mt 25:14-30
Paul encourages the people to make even greater progress.
The British poet and novelist William Dunkerley also wrote
under the name John Oxenham. One of his poems is especially provocative. A
paraphrase of it reads: “To everyone there opens a way a high way and a low.
The high soul takes the high way; the low soul takes the low. And in between on
the misty flats, the rest drift to and fro. But to everyone, there opens a way,
a high way, and a low. And everyone decides the way his soul shall go.”
Paul viewed Christian life in the same way. The only valid
choice Christians have is to shoot for the stars. Anything else is unworthy of
their calling. What keeps us from shooting for the stars? “Some men die by
shrapnel and some go down in flames, But most men perish inch by inch
Playing at little games.” Author unknown
***
Paul gives his Thessalonians two recommendations to promote
mutual love: work for your livelihood and do not over depend on others. Then,
remain calm, wait for the Lord’s coming in faith and hope, without fear.
***
A talent would have the value of about five lakhs of rupees
(half a million rupees or about $6,500). Here it means anything over and above
natural ability. It is all those gifts which are opportunities to draw profit
from. It is God who distributes these gifts. Such talents are: The Church,
God's chosen guide to lead men closer to him by its teaching. Its guidance is
the means of sanctification. The Bible is such a talent: my work through which
I can serve and add my share to the welfare of all, my home, my relatives, and
friends who help me by their good and perhaps even their bad example to find
the right path. The library is another talent holding books that contain the
knowledge to
make me a finer person. The poor are a talent of great
value. What I do to them is done to Christ and has his reward. My time with its
insecurity makes me trust in God, my ordinary fellow men who are at every
moment of the day an opportunity to practice love: all these are opportunities
to draw profit from.
***
In today’s parable of the talents, Jesus speaks of what we
do for the kingdom of God with the gifts we have received from him. For the
kingdom, that means, to animate the Church and the world with faith, hope,
a love that transforms us, the Church and the world. For this purpose, we invest in ourselves, take risks, are involved. If we seek deceptive security in our
little practices, in immobility, we bury a hole in the ground, we bury
ourselves, we opt for death, we are devalued. Do we use our God-given talents
as a capital not merely to be proud of, but to bear interest for God’s plans
with us and the world?
***
Opening
Prayer
Lord our
God, source of all wisdom, you invite us to be wise and to encounter your Son with
burning lamps in our hands. Help us to be prepared to meet him in the events of
daily life and in people around us, that we may enter with him into your feast
that lasts forever. Amen
