Nov 15 2020 Reflection

Sunday 15 November 2020

First Reading: PRV 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
Responsorial Psalm:
Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
PS 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
Second Reading: 1 THES 5:1-6
Gospel Reading: MT 25:14-30

Today’s Note: Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel Reading:

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“A man going on a journey
called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.
To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one–
to each according to his ability. 
Then he went away.
Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them,
and made another five.
Likewise, the one who received two made another two. 
But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground
and buried his master’s money.

“After a long time
the master of those servants came back
and settled accounts with them.
The one who had received five talents came forward
bringing the additional five. 
He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. 
See, I have made five more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. 
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities. 
Come, share your master’s joy.’
Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said,
‘Master, you gave me two talents. 
See, I have made two more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. 
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master’s joy.’
Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, 
‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person,
harvesting where you did not plant
and gathering where you did not scatter;
so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. 
Here it is back.’
His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant!
So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant
and gather where I did not scatter? 
Should you not then have put my money in the bank
so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? 
Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. 
For to everyone who has,
more will be given and he will grow rich;
but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.
And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'”

Reflection:

A man . . . called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. (Matthew 25:14)

Valued at nearly twenty years’ wages, even one talent was an astonishing amount of money. So the master was not giving his servants a small gift or an insignificant coin. While we often think these talents represent our own gifts or abilities, a number of commentators suggest that we look at them as the extremely valuable gifts of mercy and love that God lavishes on us. And as we learn from the servant who hid his talent, those gifts multiply, not when we try to guard and keep them, but when we use them!

That’s where our first reading comes in. The “worthy wife” of Proverbs 31:10-31 is not just a quaint lesson, or worse, the product of a patriarchal society. Her story is much closer to the servant in today’s Gospel who doubled his five talents by using them—by multiplying mercy and love by sharing it.

Look at how she is described: She works busily within her household and does it “with loving hands” (Proverbs 31:13). But she doesn’t stop there. “She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy” (31:20). She does not hoard the self-giving love and compassion she has received from God. She generously gives it away, both to her family and to anyone she sees in need.

You see, it’s not her charm or beauty that gives her value. It’s her fear of the Lord, her reverence for God. It’s the way she recognizes the wideness of his mercy and love and imitates him by sharing them. That is what brings her, and her whole family, such joy.

Each one of us has received God’s precious gifts of mercy and love. Each of us has the opportunity to open our hands and our hearts to give them away to the people around us. The wife from Proverbs 31 did it. Let’s go out and do the same.

“Father, you have given me precious gifts. Help me to multiply them by sharing them.”