Contributed by Fr. Ray Reitzel, C.R.
born in Waterloo and is #9 in a family of 9 boys and 3 girls.
One brother (Harry) is a C.R. priest, and two sisters are Notre Dame Sisters.
He taught for 31 years at St. Jerome’s H.S, Kitchener, and at St. Joseph- Scollard Hall
in North Bay. He served in 4 parishes for 17 years. He is now semi-retired
and living in the priests’ residence, Louis Hall, at St. Jerome’s University, Waterloo.
33rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Year A)
November 19th, 2017
GATHERING TIME (10-15 minutes)
Introduction to the Word:
I toured the Toyota plant in Cambridge a few years ago. I was impressed that a shiny new car came off the assembly line every minute. I pondered on all the many hours of labour that it took to assemble each car, with various parts coming from different countries in the world. And originally, each and every part extracted from the earth. These cars will bring years of service and pleasure to many satisfied customers. Ultimately they will end up in a scrapyard or garbage dump to be absorbed back into the earth.
This reminds us that every human being has come from the earth—from Adam and Eve—and that we are all dependent on the earth’s resources. Today more then ever, we have to be stewards of these resources and our earthly environment.
When I was a child back in the 1940’s, we were not too much concerned about the environment because there were just a little more than 2 billion people on the earth. Gradually we saw dwindling forests and farmlands, polluted air and water, less room for garbage dumps, etc.
The ‘parable of the talents’ in today’s Gospel reminds us that God entrusts each of us with 5, 2, or 1 talent, according to our abilities, to be invested, often demanding healthy risks. These “talents”, or investments, or money are total gifts from God. We did not work for them. Our “work” is how we make use of these gifts. Did we use them in a responsible way? a selfish way? detrimental to others? to benefit others? for the glory of God?....The reckoning comes: “After a long time the Master returns to the slaves to settle his accounts with them.” This ties in with next Sunday, the Feast of Christ the King, when Jesus will come at the end of the world to judge the living and the dead. This Feast brings us to the end of the Liturgical Year, Year “A”. The following Sunday is the beginning of the new Liturgical Year “B”, beginning with Advent.
Warm-up activity:
Today’s primary lesson focuses our attention on today’s Gospel parable of the talents. It is a fair expectation that the manner in which we live our lives this very day will more than likely, be an accurate measure of what we will bring to that final time of reckoning, the Last Judgement.
The following activity invites us to talk about our own experiences in regard to risk taking. Review the statements below. All of them represent various dispositions toward “taking risks.” Identify two or three that describe your own attitude in regard to "taking risks."
(A) “Better be safe than sorry.”
(B) “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
(C) “Look before you leap.”
(D) “Better to have tried and failed, than never to have tried at all.”
(E) “You can do whatever you set your mind to.”
(F) “Once bitten, twice shy!”
(G) Other!
THE TABLE OF THE WORD
THEME
If we are to be faithful to our constant responsibility to build up the reign of God, we need to be willing to take risks. The time of “the coming of the Lord” is not known to us. Whatever plans we make, we will never be certain whether they will come to fruition. We may spend and be spent, as Paul often reminds us, without knowing how successful we will be in the choices we make. Yet we must make plans and set out to accomplish them; we must invest our time, our talents, our very selves as we make our way on life's always challenging journey.
To refuse to risk oneself is to refuse to trust, as our readings remind us again today (Sister Dianne Bergant, O.S.A., 2001). To refuse to risk is an unrealistic expectation in that it requires assurance that we will never fail. Like the man who simply buried his treasure, we surely don't want to stand before the Lord on the last day and claim that we have done nothing because we were afraid we might not succeed. We will never know how successful we will be if we refuse to risk—it is part of the constant striving to live a fulfilled life.
Leader: Loving God, you share your life with us, and invite us to share with others, as you shared with us. We know that whatever efforts we make, will never be fully realized without the presence of your empowering Spirit.
Lord Jesus, you lived to deliver us from the fear of living. Lord, have mercy.
Christ Jesus, you died to deliver us from the fear of dying. Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you set us free to live with confidence and courage. Lord, have mercy.
Let us pray (together)
All our skills, all our strength, all our talents,
in fact every moment of our life—everything is a gift from you,
most generous God. Make us hungry to trade with them, and multiply their worth
for the sake of your people and your Kingdom.
Amen.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION TIME (45 minutes)
(As Christians we believe that the WORD of God we hear proclaimed each Sunday is an empowering Word, and that God is present in the Word proclaimed. This is the Word that God wants us to hear today.)
FIRST READING (Proverbs 31.10-13, 16-18, 20, 26, 28-31)
A capable wife, who can find her? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. She girds herself with strength, and makes your arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.
She opens her hand to the poor, and reaches out her hands to the needy. She opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Her children rise up and call her happy; her husband too, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her a share in the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the city gates.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
SECOND READING (1 Thessalonians 5.1-6)
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, “there is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!
But you, beloved, are not in darkness for that day to surprise you like a thief. You are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
GOSPEL (Matthew 25.14-30)
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, O Lord.
Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples: “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. “The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
“After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
“And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents. His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ “Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping, where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’
“But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest.
So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
Lectio Divina means “sacred reading” to which prayer is attached. It was a popular form of prayer in the early Church. This Word proclaimed today is God’s own Word, God’s way of speaking to you today through God’s own Spirit. So take a few moments to be quiet, allowing this Word you have just heard to touch you as you reflect quietly on the three readings. Is there a word or thought that somehow attracts you or has your interest? If so, simply identify it—no need to explain it—just identify it.
COMMENTARY:
Our Gospel confuses us today as much as it did Jesus’ disciples 2000 years ago. A man went on a journey and entrusted his servants with his money/talents. They did not “work” for this “talent/money”, but they were expected to “work” to “the best of their abilities” (which for us means to be fruitful and use them for the glory of God, helping their neighbour, purifying the environment, etc). Upon his return, he asked them to make an accounting of their investment. A talent was about 6000 denarii, and one denarius was equivalent to a day's wage. For a servant to receive only one talent was still considered a sizable amount of money. Some readers have been troubled by the harshness of the master’s treatment of the third man who buried the one talent given him. However, it is serious. We are dealing with eternal life! All three had been told in effect, "Use it or lose it!"
The man who buried the money in the ground condemned himself with his own words, for he knew that he would be held accountable: "I knew that you were a demanding person." Thus he is punished not because he was a poor manager of funds, but because he did not take his responsibilities seriously enough.
The sketch of the “wonder” woman in the first reading depicts the complete opposite of this irresponsible man. She not only fulfills her responsibilities; she does so in an exceptional way. This picture of an industrious wife troubles some women of our time who see her as merely a reinforcement of the patriarchal stereotype (ibid). But it should be noted that in Israel's wisdom tradition, the wise person is held up as a model to be emulated. And here the idealized person is a woman. The character of her responsibilities is not the issue. Rather it is her faithfulness in carrying them out. They were the behaviours expected of her, and she was faithful (ibid). Hopefully we could interchange woman with man, wife with husband, and have a great description for the “ideal husband”.
The reading from First Thessalonians underscores the unexpectedness of the return of the Lord on the “Last Day”. Paul insists this event will come "like a thief in the night." “Keep awake and sober!” He uses two other end time themes: "Day of the Lord” and "Birth pangs of the Messiah." It seems that the Israelites looked forward to this day not only as a day of punishment for their enemies but also as a day of good fortune for themselves.
In early Jewish tradition, the suffering referred to here was recognized as "the birth pangs of the Messiah” (Is 26:17). It characterized the pain one would have to endure as the new age of fulfillment was being born. Paul was here encouraging his suffering Christian converts in Thessalonica, assuring them that their pain and suffering was not a punishment, but a sharing in the suffering of Christ, and an actual part of the birthing of this new age.
So what do these readings require of us today? First it is important to note that we are accountable to God, not so much for obedience to rules and regulations, but for the responsibilities of our life. Parents must devote themselves wholeheartedly to parenting, teachers to teaching, politicians to lawmaking and so on. The way we fulfill these responsibilities may be influenced by the cultural circumstances of our day, but fulfill them we must. Today's readings insist that there is no “life calling” that does not have obligations of some kind, and usually these obligations include service to others. It is in this faithful accomplishment of the tasks of life, that we make present the reign of God among us, that we bring to birth the age of fulfillment.