Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time_A - From Servants to Sons and Daughters_111923

Deacon Tom Writes,

“From Servants to Sons and Daughters”

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

 

The Parable of the Talents is a cautionary tale that has been appropriate for all ages and especially to our own when the common perception is, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer!” Money, the economy, our social status are so very important to us that they can at times be an obstacle to our physical and spiritual well-being. That’s why Jesus frequently uses them as the subject matter for His parables. His perceptive and unique insights into wealth, possessions and our attitudes toward them captured the attention of so many of the people of His time.

Today’s story is about a man as he makes arrangements to go away on a journey. He entrusts portions of his estate to his servants to manage in his absence. He doesn’t give them any instruction on how to manage his affairs but he does allocate the amount that each will manage according to their abilities. Because of this we may conclude that the Master had some expectations about how each of his servants would manage the portion of the property he entrusted to them. It’s obvious that the Master was looking to increase his wealth by virtue of the fact that praise and more responsibility is given to those who achieved sizable returns. The thought that his money would sit idly by and not get so much as shekel’s worth of interest from the bankers was beyond his imagination.

If we are able to imagine this parable with some spiritual insight, we might easily see that we are the players in the very script we hear today. We are the servants, at least from God’s perspective. And, He has entrusted us with many talents. They are God’s gift to us. What we do with them is our gift to God. It seems from today’s lesson that God is pleased when we are willing to go all out for His kingdom; when we are willing to put the effort and energy into living those values that Christ taught us and actually incorporate them into our lives and giving good witness to those around us. As they say in the financial world… “No risk, No reward.” Make no mistake about it, trying to live the gospel values in our day is putting ourselves at great risk of rejection, humiliation, and even death in some corners of the world today.

Being timid, hording or squandering the gifts God has given us stifles the spreading of His kingdom and condemns us to a life of deprivation...we will reap what we sow! We would do a much better job of building up the kingdom if we came to see ourselves not as servants managing someone else’s property, but rather as we really are, sons and daughters of the King who one day stand to inherit the riches of His entire kingdom.

Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom

Please Visit www.deaconspod.com and listen in as the three deacs engage in a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer to those thinking of coming into or leaving it.

 

OTHER RESOURCE

 

Recommended Reading: The Contemplative Heart by James Finley recognizes the depth and range of today's spiritual yearning and refuses to settle for anything but its most profound possibilities. He opens our everyday living to the contemplative traditions, practices, and teaching that have been traditionally the preserve of the monk, and he does so without diluting them. The Contemplative Heart, enables readers to realize that wherever we live, whatever we do, the richest possibilities of a contemplative life are within our reach-that they are in fact what we have been searching for all along.

Recommended YouTube Video:  The Prophetic Path In this video, Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) faculty member James Finley explores our 2023 DM theme, The Prophetic Path, placing an emphasis on how we can heal from trauma. He reminds us that “we are the generosity of God; we are the song God sings.” Then, James invites us into a rendezvous with God — a grounding and prayerful practice.

Read the Read the Unedited Transcript

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time_C - The Days to Come_111322

Image Credit: journeytopenuel.files.wordpress.com

Deacon Tom Writes,

“The Days to Come’”

 

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Seeing Christmas decorations in the stores and hearing the countdown to Christmas since early September is a sure sign that our holiday shopping season has arrived. In the spiritual realm it is a reminder that this current Liturgical Year is drawing to a close. As it does, Sacred Scripture invites us to consider “the days to come”. Today we hear the first of several prophetic warnings about the judgment that will take place in “the days to come”. The Prophet Malachi issues a warning that the proud and evildoers will be punished, and those who fear the Lord and follow his ways will be rewarded in “the days to come”.

Jesus, too, sees that in “the days to come” there will be a judgment rendered upon Jerusalem, a day when the magnificent Temple standing before him will be leveled…. “so that not one stone will be left upon another”, a painful image for the people of his day.

What Malachi and Jesus both envision for us today is that the days of this world are numbered. The clock is running...tic, toc. History, with its wars, famines, revolutions and plagues will give way to a new chapter in the Creator’s plan in “the days to come”. These readings remind us that everything around us is temporary. The world and all that has been developed over the ages in the course of human achievement and progress will one day fade away. What will not fade away, however, is God’s judgment!

In these last several weeks of our Liturgical Year, we are challenged to prepare ourselves for “the days to come” by setting our hearts and minds on the things that matter, on the things that will endure, Jesus and the kingdom he inaugurated. As citizens of God’s kingdom we are invited to live a healthy and mature spiritual life that leads to a deeper relationship with God; we are encouraged to develop a discerning spirit so that we know how to make the right choices for ourselves and our families; we are asked to conform our lives to Christ’s so that we live and act justly and do what we can to comfort and help the poor and the needy.

Following Christ’s example can be costly, as Jesus makes clear in the gospel today. Being a witness of the gospel can cause us hardship, suffering, and distress. Just try speaking out against capital punishment or advocating the principles of our Catholic Social Teaching. Watch what happens if you welcome a political refugee from Venezuela into your home. That’s because the gospel stands in contrast to the world around us, a world that is often indifferent, wasteful, unjust and, oh, by the way, passing.

As our Liturgical Year ends, we look forward to “the days to come”, when all that is temporary and lacking gives way to the plans that God has in mind for those who persevere in following his ways. Today, we wait in hope for “the Lord to come and rule the earth with justice.”

Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom

Check out www.deaconspod.com for a contemporary Catholic conversation exploring the treasures our faith has to offer.

 

OTHER RESOURCES

Recommended Reading: Letters From an Understanding Friend by Isaias Powers, CP, draws the reader into Christ's loving care to experience his love and compassion
by Isaias Powers, CP,draws the reader into Christ's loving care to experience his love and compassion.

Recommended YouTube Video  Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI  on Catholic Social Teaching. This is an excerpt from his lecture series "Simply Being Good-Hearted is Not Enough: A Spirituality of Charity, Justice, and Prophecy." I hope you will find this very interesting.

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time - The Days to Come_111719

Deacon Tom Writes,

“The Days to Come’”

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Seeing Christmas decorations in the stores and hearing the countdown to Christmas is a sure sign that our Liturgical Year is drawing to a close. As it does, Sacred Scripture invites us to consider “the days to come”. Today we hear the first of several prophetic warnings about the judgment that will take place in “the days to come”. The Prophet Malachi issues a warning that the proud and evildoers will be punished, and those who fear the Lord and follow his ways will be rewarded in “the days to come”.

Jesus, too, sees that in “the days to come” there will be a judgment rendered upon Jerusalem, a day when the magnificent Temple standing before him will be leveled…. “so that not one stone will be left upon another”, a painful image for the people of his day.

What Malachi and Jesus both envision for us today is that the days of this world are numbered. The clock is running… History, with its wars, famines, revolutions and plagues will give way to a new chapter in the Creator’s plan in “the days to come”. These readings remind us that everything around us is temporary. The world and all that has been developed over the ages in the course of human achievement and progress will one day fade away. What will not fade away, however, is God’s judgment!

In these last several weeks of our Liturgical Year, we are challenged to prepare ourselves for “the days to come” by setting our hearts and minds on Jesus whose teachings need to be the foundation upon which we model our lives. We are invited to have a healthy and mature spiritual life that leads to a deeper relationship with God; we are encouraged to develop a discerning spirit so that we know how to make the right choices for ourselves and our families; we are asked to conform our lives to Christ’s so that we live and act justly and do what we can to comfort and help the poor and the needy.

Following Christ’s example can be costly, as Jesus makes clear in the gospel today. Being a witness of the gospel can cause us hardship, suffering, and distress. Just try speaking out against capital punishment or advocating the principles of our Catholic Social Teaching. That’s because the gospel stands in contrast to the world around us, a world that is often indifferent, wasteful, unjust and, oh, by the way, passing.

As our Liturgical Year ends, we look forward to “the days to come”, when all that is temporary and lacking gives way to the plans that God has in mind for those who persevere in following his ways. We wait in hope for the Lord to come and rule the earth with justice.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom