First
Reading - Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 ©
Responsorial
Psalm - Psalm 127(128):1-5 ©
Second Reading – 1 Thessalonians
5:1-6 ©
Gospel Acclamation – Revelation 2:10
Alternative
Acclamation – John 15:4, 5
The Gospel According to Matthew 25:14
- 30 ©
(NJB)
Listen!
Everyone has fallen short of
perfection, the measure itself is arbitrary and the designation meaningless.
Consider
the words of the psalmist and know that he is in error.
It is
vanity to believe that God will come to your aid when you are engaged in a
dispute with your sisters or brothers, when you are engaged in any dispute in
all.
It is
vanity and foolishness to believe that God will secure the foundation of your
house or the peace of your city, the stability of your nation or the well-being
of the world over and against that of anyone else.
It is foolishness
and hubris to assume that those who labor from dawn to dusk are loved less by
God than those who do not toil at all.
It is hubris
and false to believe that God places boys
in the wombs of mothers and gives them certain qualities, on behalf of a father
whom God loves.
God does
not favor husbands over wives, God does not favor brothers over sisters, God
does not favor sons over daughters.
God does
not intervene in our affairs.
Listen to
the apostle!
When Paul
says that we belong to the light, he is speaking to all the children of Adam as
he understood them to be, he is speaking to the entire human race. Paul’s is speaking
to the world, his audience is everyone.
Be mindful!
The gift of
grace is not transactional; God gives it freely, no one is excluded.
Know this.
God is present throughout creation; there is no
place where God is not. God touches every person, God sustains every living-thing,
God undergirds the created order. The true God is God of Christian and
non-Christian alike, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Consider
the Gospel reading for today:
It
is heartbreaking to see the teaching of Jesus betrayed so completely by the
writers of the Gospels.
At
this point the authors of Matthew, writing a hundred years or so after the
death of Jesus, were more concerned with building up and retaining church
property than they were with teaching the good news…that Christ has risen, that
God loves the sinner, that God loves the worst of us.
It
is impossible to know how the way came to be betrayed in such a fulsome
and complete manner, but I am thinking it has to do with the fact that over the
course of a hundred years, after the destruction of Jerusalem, leadership of
Christian communities throughout the Empire came to those with the means to
support it…the wealthy. Bishops were selected from among those who supported
the Church but who were also leading merchants and tradespeople, landowners and
those with rank or status.
It
is not surprising that in this time the way, which Jesus preached, came
to be imagined as a kingdom, while abba, the father, became a king.
This
parable views God or Jesus as a merchant and a banker, instead of a fisherman
or a carpenter, a shepherd or a farmer.
The
parable begins with the idea that God will distribute challenges and tasks to each
and every person according their ability, that God knows both the powers and
liabilities of God’s children, and consequently God knows what to expect from
them. In terms of the probability of success or the likelihood of failure.
It
would be out of character for the loving and knowing God to punish the servant
who buried his one talent, God knew that this is what this servant would do
when the talent was given.
According
to the way, the servant who buried the talent should receive the
ministry of mercy, forgiveness and understanding…not cast out and left in the
dark.
One
hundred years after the death of Jesus, the leaders of the church had forgotten
this.
The
servant who hid the talent was not lazy, as the “master” said, but was merely fearful
because he knew that the man he was beholden to was a hard person. He was a man
who took what he had not worked for, robbing others of the fruit of their
labor.
It
is quite possible that this servant did not multiply his talent as the others
had done, because he did not want to emulate the corrupt practices of his
master as the others were willing to do.
Again,
the master, who represents either God or Jesus in this parable, does not deny
being hard of heart, and does not deny the charge of being a thief, reaping
what he had not sewn, and gathering what he had not scattered.
He
is proud of it! And that is the type of society he intends to promote.
He
charges the frightened servant with laziness, with neglect and stupidity, calling
him a good-for-nothing and has him thrown into the dark, into the place of
wailing and gnashing of teeth, into hell, the place of death.
Through
this twist in the narrative the authors of this parable up-end Jesus’ teaching;
they completely forget that the last will be first and the first shall be last.
The
true reading of the parable is this:
The
man who was thrown out represents the figure of Christ. Like Christ he refused
to emulate the wicked practices of the rulers, he refused to profit from the
suffering of others, he knew that he would be punished and he accepted the
consequences. He was proven right, and he was killed for his convictions.
First
Reading - Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31 ©
A
Perfect Wife - Who Can Find Her?
A
perfect wife – who can find her?
She
is far beyond the price of pearls.
Her
husband’s heart has confidence in her, from her he will derive no little
profit.
Advantage
and not hurt she brings him all the days of her life.
She
is always busy with wool and with flax, she does her work with eager hands.
She
sets her hands to the distaff, her fingers grasp the spindle.
She
holds out her hand to the poor, she opens her arms to the needy.
Charm
is deceitful, and beauty empty; the woman who is wise is the one to praise.
Give
her a share in what her hands have worked for, and let her works tell her
praises at the city gates.
Responsorial
Psalm - Psalm 127(128):1-5 ©
O blessed are those who fear the Lord.
O blessed are those who fear the Lord
and walk in
his ways!
By the labour of your hands you shall eat.
You will be
happy and prosper.
O blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
in the heart
of your house;
your children like shoots of the olive,
around your
table.
O blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Indeed thus shall be blessed
the man who
fears the Lord.
May the Lord bless you from Zion
all the days
of your life!
O blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Second Reading – 1 Thessalonians
5:1-6 ©
God Will Bring with Him Those Who Have
Died in Jesus
You will not be expecting us to write anything to
you, brothers, about ‘times and seasons’, since you know very well that the Day
of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night. It is when people are
saying, ‘How quiet and peaceful it is’ that the worst suddenly happens, as
suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant woman; and there will be no way for
anybody to evade it.
But it is not as if you live in the dark, my
brothers, for that Day to overtake you like a thief. No, you are all sons of
light and sons of the day: we do not belong to the night or to darkness, so we
should not go on sleeping, as everyone else does, but stay wide awake and
sober.
Gospel Acclamation – Revelation 2:10
Alleluia, alleluia!
Even if you have to die, says the Lord, keep
faithful, and I will give you the crown of life.
Alleluia!
Alternative Acclamation – John 15:4, 5
Alleluia, alleluia!
Make your home in me, as I make mine in you. Whoever
remains in me bears fruit in plenty.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Matthew 25:14
- 30 ©
You Have Been Faithful in Small Things:
Come and Join in Your Master's Happiness
Jesus
spoke this parable to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of Heaven is like a man on
his way abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them. To
one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one; each in proportion to
his ability. Then he set out.
‘The
man who had received the five talents promptly went and traded with them and
made five more. The man who had received two made two more in the same way. But
the man who had received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his
master’s money.
‘Now
a long time after, the master of those servants came back and went through his
accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents came forward
bringing five more. “Sir,” he said “you entrusted me with five talents; here
are five more that I have made.”
‘His
master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you
can be faithful in small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join
in your master’s happiness.”
‘Next
the man with the two talents came forward. “Sir,” he said “you entrusted me
with two talents; here are two more that I have made.” His master said to him,
“Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you can be faithful in
small things, I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s
happiness.”
‘Last
came forward the man who had the one talent. “Sir,” said he “I had heard you
were a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have
not scattered; so I was afraid, and I went off and hid your talent in the
ground. Here it is; it was yours, you have it back.” But his master answered
him, “You wicked and lazy servant! So you knew that I reap where I have not
sown and gather where I have not scattered? Well then, you should have
deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have recovered my
capital with interest. So now, take the talent from him and give it to the man
who has the five talents. For to everyone who has will be given more, and he
will have more than enough; but from the man who has not, even what he has will
be taken away. As for this good-for-nothing servant, throw him out into the
dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.”’
The Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary
Time (Year A)
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