Thirty-Third Sunday of Year A

Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-31; 1 Thess. 5:1-6 and Matt 25:14-15,19-21.

Today, as we celebrate the 33^rd Sunday of Year A we draw closer and closer to the end of the 2017 liturgical calendar, and also, to the beginning of a new one marked by the season of Advent. The day also marks the beginning of the First World Day of the Poor by which the Holy Father, Pope Francis invites the whole church to turn their gaze on our beloved poor who stretch their hands and plead for our concrete help and solidarity through concrete signs of solidarity and fraternity.

In the midst of all the anxieties of life, the threats of wars, terrorism, ISIS, Boko Haram, etc the church invites and exhorts us in the reading today to remain faithful and dedicated to our Head and Lord Jesus Christ. I read the story about a faithful dog called Hachiko recently.  It was owned by a professor at the University of Tokyo. The professor used to take a train from a particular Station every day to go to the University. Each day Hachiko accompanied him to the train station when he left for work. Upon returning, the Professor would find the dog patiently waiting and wagging its tail. This happy routine continued until one fateful day, when the professor was taken ill on the job and unfortunately died before he could return home. As usual, the dog waited at
the train station that day for his master to return back. However, seeing that he was not coming back, Hachiko waited till night fell and retuned back home. The next day Hachiko went back to the train station again, waiting for his master to come back. He patiently waited till sunset and then retuned back home. The dog was so devoted to the professor that he continued to visit the train station everyday for the next ten years! The people who passed the loyal dog each day were so touched by his story that they erected a statue in his honor at the Station. A year later, Hachiko died at the very same spot where he used to wait for his master.

We have, by virtue of our baptismal vows, pledged allegiance to the Lord and as the faithful Hachiko, we should be faithful to Him, our Head – Jesus Christ.  The first reading calls us to emulate the qualities of the virtuous woman by being as faithful and devoted to our callings and mission as the virtuous woman is. The woman in this text, is trustworthy, holy, perfect, and faithful.  The woman is merciful, kind, prudent, understanding and just. Her husband and her family depend on her, who is very hard working!  As Pope Francis would recommend, she reaches out to the poor, and extends her hands to the needy! Saint Paul in the Second reading (1Thess 5:1-6) also reminds the anxious Thessalonian church of another facet of this woman’s  virtues namely: preparedness and staying very sober for the day of the Lord.

In our daily works, we must not lose hope of God’s judgment and His promise of blessings and reward to those who are faithful to Him. We are called to be conscious of the hiddenness of God in our midst, his holiness, his transcendence and his immanence, his divine surprises and his mysterious ways of dealing with us! Paul is exhorting us to be faithful and devoted in good works as the virtuous woman in our first reading. The “Day of the Lord” must not catch us by surprise because, “to be forewarned is to be fore armed.” As people of light we must perdue in the light and avoid all the snares of darkness. As faithful and devoted children of God, we must be about our Father‘s duty without allowing ourselves to be distracted at all. We must live expectantly in the light of Christ our Head’s return, realizing that our works will be judged and that our opportunities for service on earth will end. 

Jesus uses the parable of the talent in the gospel reading to equally remind us that given the immanence of his return, each one of us must be ready to render a good account to Him as our Head. In order words, He has endowed us differently according to our various capacities. Jesus is telling us that God has entrusted us with so many talents, skills, graces, blessings and gifts. It may be in the form of material riches or special talents or skills. God is certainly delighted if we use all of these to the fullest.

But why is it that each is given unequally? I don’t know. So, does this not mean that there is injustice and inequality here, that God has favorites? No. Yes they received unequal talents but they received the same reward, the joy of belonging to God’s Kingdom. Here Jesus tells us that it does not really matter what and how many talents we receive. What counts is how we use these talents. We are given time by God. Are some people not afraid to give such time and so never use it to visit, to cheer up others who are in trouble or attend even to just the smallest need of a person? We are given treasures like money by God but, do some people not hold it back and hoard it for themselves alone? They are preparing for the future of their children and for their early retirement. So they use their money for their own purpose alone.  We are given talents like for example, playing guitar and others by God. Use it for the greater glory of God by becoming a member of the Church’s choir and for some other noble works. If you are beautiful or handsome, use this to convert others back to God and guide them back to the Church and not to acquire more girlfriends or boyfriends.

And yet we are all equal in the eyes of God. We are all guaranteed equal rights under the Constitution. In an election our votes are all equal. But when it comes to our abilities, we are as different as different can be. God simply did not make us all the same. There are some people who can handle five talents; there are some who can handle only one. There are some persons who have great intellectual capabilities, and some who do not. There are some who have the ability to project and articulate their thoughts, and there are some who cannot. There are some who have physical prowess and attractive looks, and there are some who do not.

And, let us also be aware that these talents and gifts remain God’s property – whether it’s a talent, ability, asset, money and others, they are God’s. We are only administrators and stewards of these gifts. We cannot dispense these as we please. We must use these talents and abilities according to God’s will, for His glory, and in the service of our neighbor.

In the gospel passage, the travelling master, Jesus, distributed gifts to his servants, 5, 2 and 1 respectively. The first two servants feared the Lord, traded and multiplied their gifts.  What did the third servant do with his talent?  He left his given gift hidden in the ground, unproductive.  He went about complaining, blaming others, and criticizing even the Master, the distributor of the talent, calling him names - horrible, a hard man!

He lacks the fear of the Lord! He fails to grasp the nature of his responsibility. His action represents not only laziness, arrogance, but also lack of love for the master. It represents a disciple who is trying to play safe, a disciple not ready to bear witness to the gospel at all times, not ready to keep watch for the return of the master. His excuse, ironically, is that he was “afraid”, which is equivalent to faithlessness, lack of readiness and lack of trust in the master, the Lord.  He completely, misunderstood the true meaning of the fear of the Lord.

As we go about our daily activities, we must realize that the Lord also expects us as devoted and faithful children to render a good account of the “talents” he has endowed us with. We must use whatever talents we have been given to the best of our ability for God’s glory, and when we have done that, we are on an equal playing field with other faithful. As trustworthy servants of God we must therefore, avoid a life of indifference, apathy, licentiousness, and complacency towards our mission and work as these will not fetch us any reward from Christ.

In solidarity with the Holy Father who presides at Holy Mass this morning with the poor in St Peter’s Basilica, in Rome, let us be sensitive to the many ways poverty challenges us today, in faces marked by suffering, marginalization, oppression, violence, torture and imprisonment, war, deprivation of freedom and dignity, ignorance and illiteracy, medical emergencies and shortage of work, trafficking and slavery, exile, extreme poverty and forced migration, crushed by the machinations of power and money. And let us respond with a new vision of life and society.

We are faithful, devoted and wise disciples only if, while waiting for Christ’s return, we emulate and expand his ministry, the arrival of which He announced by feeding the hungry, visiting and curing the sick and imprisoned, blessing the meek, serving the least, clothing the naked, and welcoming the stranger (Mt. 25:31-46). If we are found faithful in this same ministry, we will definitely hear our Master and Head say to us when he returns: “Well done, good and faithful servant.