Christmas, 2023

 Today we celebrate the fact that the infinite God chose to become one of us, a human being. And tonight I’d like for us to meditate on that. Because God did not send Jesus to us as a fully formed perfect adult -- although we believe he was exactly that at the time of his crucifixion, and probably before that as well. Why do I say this? The gospel of Luke says that he advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man. And we see Jesus learning things in his adult life. “Blessed are you, Simon, son of John, because this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my father in heaven.” Or when he heals the centurion’s servant -- Truly I say to you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith!” Or, to Nathaniel, “Here is an Israelite with no deceit” And you could find other examples as well. And we know Jesus ate and drank, and undoubtedly had other physical functions like you and I. And we know he wept, he got angry, he was exasperated when his disciples couldn’t understand what he was talking about. Jesus was physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually a real human being, always learning, always changing, always having real emotions.

And the question is, how did God accomplish this? By the Holy Spirit he was incarnate of the Virgin Mary. But that was only the beginning.

We believe Mary was a perfect human being -- born without original sin, fully cooperating with the will of the Father, so blessed that she shared in Jesus’ passion as she stood at the foot of the cross. Perfect, by the way, means that you do everything the way it is supposed to be done. It doesn’t mean you are superman or superwoman. But Joseph had to be a perfect human being as well. Not born without original sin, but maybe cleansed afterwards, like we believe was the case with John the Baptist. And why? Because Jesus needed a perfect family to become a perfect human being himself. Vatican II recognized Joseph’s status when his name was inserted into the Eucharistic prayer -- before all the other saints except Mary herself.

Matthew and Luke both testify to the fact that Jesus’ conception took place in Mary after she was betrothed to Joseph. God waited until there was a family, even though Joseph and Mary had not begun living together. But they were truly married, because Joseph, learning that Mary was pregnant, wanted to divorce her quietly. You don’t have to get a divorce if you are merely engaged. And I might add that Mary probably told Joseph what had happened, and Joseph believed her, and in his humility, he wanted to step aside and not interfere with God’s plan -- until he was told “Do not be afraid to take Mary into your home”.

Let’s look into that home. First, Mary and Joseph truly loved each other. Both were chaste, but chastity is a virtue that helps us integrate our sexuality into our humanity. The catechism of the Catholic Church says, “the virtue of chastity blossoms in friendship; it leads to spiritual communion.” Mary and Joseph were not just good friends; there was true marital love. And that was important for Jesus’ developing humanity. Saint Augustine said that in the marriage of Joseph and Mary, all the goods of marriage were realized. Offspring -- Jesus; fidelity -- total commitment to each other; and sacrament -- since there was no divorce.

The second thing about the home is that Jesus' needs were provided for. He did not starve to death because Joseph earned a living and Mary prepared the meals. He was clothed because of his parents; he was taught to speak by his mother and father. His father taught him how to be a good Jew and a good carpenter and through his own example, a good man. Mary gave birth to Jesus, and that’s not a small thing; but from that time until the death of Joseph, Jesus’ body, his well-being, his education, his spiritual development, and even his psychological make up were being formed by Joseph and Mary. .

The third thing, and this takes a little explaining, is that Jesus was made to feel valued. There are three kinds of conversation -- one is transactional, an exchange of information. The second is called positional -- when you trust someone enough to give your opinion. The third is transformational -- when you truly value what the other is saying. It turns out that this third kind of conversation is very important for a person to become psychologically mature; there is evidence that people exposed to transformational conversation develop changes in the brain which go along with developing empathy and the virtue of kindness.

So what does this have to do with us?

First, I suspect that you and I did not have perfect parents. But because we have been baptized into Jesus, we can call upon Mary and Joseph to make up for all those imperfections our parents had; we can ask them to parent us.

Second, we can try to imitate the holy family. The friendship between Mary and Joseph should illuminate our own friendships. Friendship, after all, is one of the greatest goods. Jesus told his apostles, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I now call you friends, because everything I learned from the Father I have made known to you.” Ideal friendship, between husband and wife, between parent and child, between any real friends, should have the quality of transformational communication -- I truly value what you say, because I value you, even if I disagree with you. Transformational communication seeks the meeting of minds, the overcoming of personal barriers.

Finally, we should ask for the intercession of the Holy Family in our world which so desperately needs what they have to offer -- because Mary and Joseph formed the man who would be the Prince of Peace, and he is the only answer to the world’s problems.

Fourth Sunday of Advent, cycle B

Luke 1:26-38

We’ve just read the passage about the Annunciation.  Let’s think about that for a moment.  She was betrothed to Joseph.  In those days among the Jewish people betrothal was an agreement between parents -- the parents of the bride and groom, or possibly the groom himself if he were of age.  But betrothal took place very early in the life of a woman, even as early as the age of 12.  And if she and Joseph had not yet consummated their marriage, as the gospel indicates, it was for one of two reasons; either Joseph had not yet built a home and established himself in a profession that could support a family, or Mary was considered too young to bear a child.  

In this situation, the angel Gabriel appeared to her.  And it says that Mary was greatly troubled.  I’m sure you remember when the angel appeared to Zachary announcing that he would have a son.  Luke describes that event as well, but says Zachary was troubled, not greatly troubled.  Mary, who is very young, illiterate, a woman and unmarried is just about as low as you can get in Jewish society -- not as low as a leper, perhaps, but pretty low.  And she is approached by an angel, who tries to reassure her that she has found favor with God, that the Lord is with her.  But that does not take away her being troubled.  

The angel goes on to elaborate:  YOu will conceive a son, you will call him Jesus (which means savior), He will be great, He will be the Son of God, He will sit on David’s throne, he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.  Seven promises, seven unbelievable promises.

But Mary still hesitates.  “How can this be,” she asks.  And the angel answers, “the Holy Spirit will do it.  And, seeing that Mary’s hesitation persists, he goes on to tell her that Elizabeth who is too old to have a child has conceived; something impossible has been done.  And that’s when Mary says, “Behold,I am the handmaid of the Lord.  and there’s one translation of the Greek words that I like, “Do to me what you say you will do.”  It is when Mary learns that her old relative will be going through the same thing as her that she is finally ready to accept what the angel is offering.  If you were reading the section of Luke’s Gospel just before the Annunciation to Mary, you would read the Annunciation to Zachary.  We can forgive a twelve year old girl for being hesitant; iti’s harder to forgive an elderly priest like Zachary who has been praying all his life for a child and when told that his prayers were finally answered, refuses to believe God’s messenger.  

So what does Mary’s story say to you and I?  Our second reading today is from the ve3ry end of the epistle of Paul to the Romans.  If you want to know what God has in store for us, Romans is a good place to look.  Basically, Paul talks about God building up Christ in his people -- as with Mary God wants to conceive his Son in each of us, through the Holy Spirit;   or to put it another way, wants to transform each of us into his son or daughter.  And Romans is full of God’s promises to those who allow this to take place.

But despite all the promises, it’s still a scary thing, just as it was for Mary.  If I allow God to take over my life, I won’t be in control anymore.  What about my plans, my ambitions?  Or as Saint Augustine said, “Lord, make me chaste, but not just yet.”  In the face of the power of the Holy Spirit, we are afraid of losing ourselves completely -- and Paul even tells us that our destiny is to be a new creation.  

So, how do we overcome those barriers that we ourselves erect?  Again, it’s interesting to look at Zachary, who was struck mute when he  did not believe.  God will have his way, even if it hurts us.  Zachary had given his life to God, as a priest, but something held him back from complete trust.  On the other hand, Mary is convinced when she learns that someone she knows, someone she is probably very close to, her cousin, is going to be accompanying her on this journey that Joseph could never understand because only a woman can understand what a woman goes through to have a child.  And I think that sometimes we really need that -- a companion in our efforts to become holy, a friend who will walk with us as we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us.  In short, as many saints have pointed out, and many have demonstrated, the path to holiness is made easier if you have a friend walking on the same path with you.  

So let us resolve to find someone like that in our lives if we don’t already have such a companion.  And certainly we can ask the Angel Gabriel to reveal that person to us as he did to Mary.  

Third Sunday of Advent, cycle B

 Third Sunday of Advent, cycle B

John 1:6-8, 19-28

When I was growing up back in the age of the dinosaurs this was one of the two Sundays in which the vestments were pink, or maybe rose would be a better term.  When I was ordained, I received a deacon’s stole as a gift; one side is pink and the other purple.  Double purpose.  Many years ago, I had the opportunity to put on my pink stole for the first time, and the priest told me to change into purple, because he himself would not be caught dead wearing a pink vestment.  Anyway, this third Sunday of advent is called “Gaudete” Sunday in Latin.  It means Sunday to rejoice.  

In the olden days Advent was like a mini-Lent.  It was a time of fasting and doing penance as we prepared for the coming of Christmas.  Yes, we gave up candy.  In our grade school one of the teachers, Sister Suzanne, asked us to tell what we gave up for lent.  Candy was very prominent.  One of my classmates said she was giving up candy because her dentist had told her to do that, and we were treated to an impromptu lecture on sacrifice by our teacher.  During lent, the period in which you could break out the candy began at noon on Holy Saturday.  I’m not sure we ever figured out when Advent ended.

We don’t spend much time thinking about Advent as a penitential season, so it seems to make even less sense to have a day of rejoicing.  With Christmas decorations everywhere, we are already in a holiday mood. But for the moment, why should we rejoice?  

Saint John Chrysostom had some thoughts on this.  He was one of the fathers of the Church, and lived in the late 300’s.  We still have a lot of his writings.  In a homily he gave about advent, he said that advent is a time when we look to the coming of Jesus Christ.  The first coming has already occurred.  It was that moment two thousand years ago when Jesus was born, which we will celebrate on Christmas day.  It was a moment that changed the universe.  Because up until that moment we human beings really had no hope.  It was reflected in the belief in many parts of the world that life after death would be a pale imitation of life on the earth.  Think about that.  It would almost be better to have no life after death than an eternity in which nothing much happened, you just hung around underground somewhere.  Some of the writers of the bible seemed to believe that.  Saul summoned the ghost of the prophet Samuel who was upset because he was awakened from his sleep.  The writer of the Psalms talks about going down into the netherworld after death.  Jesus in his first advent changed all that, made it possible for us to share God’s life.

The second coming of Christ is when we ourselves will die. Paul tells us that we will be judged.  It’s hard to imagine this, of course, but it is a doctrine of our religion, we call it the particular judgment.  At that moment Jesus judges our lives.  Now you and I have consciences.  We know when we are doing right and when we are doing wrong.  In the particular judgment, we will see our whole lives and Jesus’ judgment will not be a surprise to us.  We will get what we deserve.  

The third coming of Christ is what the church refers to as the general judgment.  It’s a moment when all our sins, even the most shameful, are revealed to the entire world.  It’s part of God’s justice, because we human beings like to compare ourselves to each other.  This will be a moment when we recognize real saints and sinners, and for many of us, it will probably be a moment when we will feel regret that we did not make better use of our time on earth.  This is the moment when Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats. 

In the Book of Revelation we learn about the fourth coming of Christ.  That’s the end of time when Jesus returns to rule whatever has become of the world by then.  It’s the dawning of the metaphorical thousand years of his rule, with Satan no longer in the picture.  It’s the transformation of our world into the kingdom of Heaven.  And some of us will be there.  Hopefully all of us.  It’s the time when as we proclaim at Mass, Christ will come again.  

Saint John Chrysostom knows that thinking about these ultimate matters is frightening and can keep us from sleeping well.  But there is a remedy, and that is the sacrament of reconciliation.  If we want Jesus to forget about our sins, he told his disciples that they had the power to forgive sins, and for Jesus, forgiving is forgetting.  If you haven’t been to confession for a while, this is a good time to make sure that the three Advents that you still must go through will be joyful times.  

Second Sunday of Advent, cycle B

Mark 1:1-8

At the time of John the Baptist, the way you got your sins forgiven was to go to Jerusalem, purchase an animal, bring it to a priest, who would pray for you, slaughter the animal, and burn some of it. The rest would be the priest’s dinner. This process went on all the time, but especially during the passover season. John the Baptist’s dad did this kind of work. Granted, like anything the process could be abused, and sometimes was. But to the Jews it wasn’t important if the priest was a scoundrel, what was important was that the process be done properly. Priests, of course, didn’t just do this. They participated in other rituals and had a role in determining whether a person was physically clean -- they diagnosed leprosy. The priests also had to be able to tell whether an animal was fit for sacrifice. All of this took training, so priests were among the educated classes.

So here comes John, dressing like Elijah the prophet. Whenever we hear about John’s diet, we westerners shudder a little bit, but apparently when you cook locusts, and many people do, they taste something like shrimp. And wild honey isn’t so bad either. But why so much attention to his diet? It’s because that’s one of the things the Israelites ate when they were wandering in the desert. Not just manna and quails. And the dietary laws of the Jewish people allow for eating locusts, crickets and grasshoppers, but no other insects. So John, the son of a priest and therefore entitled to the priestly office -- we don’t know if he was trained as a priest -- is acting out Israel’s history, coming out of the wilderness, wearing a prophet’s clothing, living on locusts and honey. And he offers a new way to have your sins forgiven. You don’t have to sacrifice an animal. But your commitment to reform your life has to be real, you have to plunge into the waters of the Jordan river, where your ancestors, a group of homeless wanderers, became a nation, crossing the water to occupy the promised land. That’s why undergoing a baptism of repentance was so attractive; it was a new beginning, it was claiming your ancestral heritage, and maybe it was a little bit of rebellion against the priests of the temple. 

But John’s message, which we could read in some of the other gospels, was very simple; if you want to be rid of your sins, signify your repentance, certainly, but then change your life, that’s what repentance is about. He told the soldiers, “Be satisfied with your salary.” He told the tax collectors to take no more than what was owed them. And these were changes that meant something to the one who wanted his sins forgiven. If you want forgiveness from God, then change your lives.

Repentance is kind of a religious word, we don’t use it in casual conversation. Someone once broke repentance down into three parts, the three R’s. The first is to recognize our sins. Now sin means missing the mark. God wants us all to be perfect in what we are and what we do. Jesus said, “Be perfect, as my heavenly father is perfect””. But if you are like me, you know that you miss the mark every day. Are you the best husband or wife you could be? the best father or mother? The best kid? If you aren’t then recognition of what you could have done differently is the beginning of repentance. Someone once said that an unexamined life is not worth living. We need to get in the habit of examining our lives.

The second R is receiving forgiveness. Jesus has, after all, won God’s forgiveness for all of us, but we have to accept it. We Catholics do that in the sacrament of reconciliation, of course, but we should be open to God’s forgiveness every day. Once we recognize where we have failed to hit the mark, we accept God’s forgiveness and set out to try again, to become a little more what God wants us to be. And that involves considering how we might avoid falling into the same trap as yesterday. I’m always surprised at how frequently I confess the same old things. I must not be receiving forgiveness the way I should.

The third R is reforming your life. When we take part in the sacrament of reconciliation, we are supposed to leave with a “firm purpose of amendment”. This refers to our whole lives. The people baptized by John went through the process once; it signified a new beginning, a new birth. When we repent, we look over our whole life, not just our named sins. Can we do more good in the world? Are there habits that are reducing our productivity? Am I actively trying to be more loving, especially to the people near me? What am I going to do about my deficiencies? How am I going to be more Christ-like?

Today as we meet John once again on the second sunday of advent, let us pray for the gift of repentance, and remember the three r’s, -recognize our sins; receive forgiveness, reform our lives. We can be saints, after all.

First Sunday of Advent, cycle B

Mark 13:33-37

Joan and I just got back from a brief visit to Front Royal, where we attended a function at Christendom College and visited with our children and grandchildren that live there.  On the way down, there was a massive accident on US 81, involving a tractor trailer and several cars.  We didn’t move for two hours.  Our Google GPS suggested an alternative route, so when we got to the turnoff, we ventured off on a two lane road which curved dramatically.  Apparently other people had Google GPS as well, so we were accompanied by many cars in both directions, many of whom did not know how to dim their lights.  After about a half hour of driving in the dark under these conditions, I was about as alert and watchful as I could get, and rapidly approaching exhaustion.  We finally got back on the highway where traffic had started to move, and arrived at my son’s house about three hours later than we had anticipated.  

Be Watchful! Be Alert! You do not know when the time will come!.  This passage from Mark always bothers me.  Of course when you read on Jesus is describing how it will be at the end of time, when he returns.  The whole Gospel is even more troublesome then.  Two thousand years have gone by and he hasn’t returned.  My whole life is much closer to the end than the beginning, and I’m still not quite sure what Jesus means.

I suppose there is nothing we can do to change the end of the world, or for that matter the end of our lives. Both are inevitable.  And there’s no way we can tell when this moment is going to come.  So do I ever let my guard down?  Do I ever close my eyes and sleep? In practical terms none of us lives so that we are always on the alert; I don’t think even the Pope lives that way.  

But it’s true.  The best way to deal with the unexpected is to expect it.  And that’s what advent is really about.  It’s to recenter us, to remind us that just as Christ came two thousand years ago, he will come again, and if we are to believe the various prophecies in the New Testament -- not only those of Jesus, but those in the epistles and in the Book of Revelation, that time will upend everything we thought was permanent and unchangeable.  

So how do we prepare?  As individuals, as Catholics, we know that at the minimum we want to stay in the state of grace, which means using the sacraments of the Church, following a personal plan of spiritual advancement, maybe getting a spiritual director to help us see what we might be missing.  When I was very young Advent was a kind of shortened lent.  The best part for us kids was that we made a promise to give something up so that we would have something to give the Christ Child for Christmas.  It’s kind of silly, I know, but I remember how, as Christmas approached, I would wonder if he would like what I had to offer -- because usually I hadn’t tried too hard, and there were a few times when the temptation to eat candy outweighed my religious fervor.  And I think that is the attitude of the great saints as well.  Did I do enough Lord, with the life you gave me?  Did I love enough, did I make an effort to spread your gospel among those I loved?  What can I show you for all you have given me?

But there’s more.  Is Jesus asking us to live in a constant state of expectation?  I’m not even sure that’s healthy.  But maybe he gives us a clue when he describes the household.  Each servant with his own work, and a gatekeeper to keep watch.. 

And maybe that’s how we are to stay alert at all times.  If we become more and more a community, loving and trusting each other to a greater and greater degree; if we strengthen our bonds with each other through our shared faith, of course, but in practical terms by becoming involved in our parish community through its various ministries and associations.  And as we intentionally work together to strengthen our Christian community, we of course look to our pastors and our bishop who are set up by the sacrament of Holy Orders  to guide us, to be watchmen, to be gatekeepers.  And indeed we also have each other,  And we remember those words, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am among them.  And it’s a wonderful thing to know that Jesus is there when we come together in our community.  

Jesus urges us to be alert because we don’t know when this period of grace will end.  Advent is a time to ask, are we ready?  And if not, what am I going to do about it?  And maybe part of that is to become more fully part of this parish community, which God gives us precisely so that we as a community can be alert to his presence and intentions.  If you are not involved in our parish life except for attending the weekend liturgy, please think about becoming more a part of parish life in this new liturgical year.   

Christ the King, cycle A

Matthew 25:31-46

Have you heard this gospel before?  Of course you have.  I bet some of us could recite it from memory.  And certainly the top message is crystal clear.  Whatever we do for the least of our brothers, that we do for Jesus -- and that has eternal consequences.  But you know me, I can’t leave things alone.  When I read this passage from Matthew, I was struck by three things.  First, this takes place at the last judgment when the Son of Man will judge the nations.  It doesn’t say, “judge each person”.  Jesus is judging the nations.  

The second thing is that I’m not sure why Jesus has it in for goats.  In his time, shepherds generally kept sheep and goats.  Sheep for their wool;  but sheep are not very smart and need a lot of looking after.  Goats are smarter, more aggressive, and generally can be of great service to the shepherd.  And they reproduce faster.  And they give more milk.  In fact, since they have more babies, the male baby goats are a source of food for the shepherd.  You remember the older brother in the story of the prodigal son?  He told his father, “you have not given me even a kid so that i could have a party with my friends”.  A kid is a baby goat. So why the sheep on one side, the good side, and the goats on the other?  I don’t know the answer to that question, but people have tried.  Goats being smarter have more responsibility.  Maybe Jesus is criticizing the leaders of the people.  Or, since we started with nations, rather than people, maybe the goats are the nations that have everything and the sheep are the ones that have nothing.  The first world countries, as anyone with eyes can see, are first world at least in part because they have taken advantage of third world countries.  Are the goats the first world countries?  YOu might get the impression that Pope Francis thinks so when you read his encyclicals and letters.  But I don’t really know if that’s what the Lord had in mind.  Jesus never seemed terribly political.  But maybe we can take away the idea that we Christians bear responsibility for what our nation does.  We can’t isolate ourselves, we have to be politically active at least in the matter of informing ourselves and voting.  As Catholics we have a responsibility to promote our church’s social teachings when we vote, or maybe participate more deeply in our political system. 

The third thing is that the righteous as well as the unrighteous had no idea that their actions on behalf of the hungry, thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned had anything to do with Christ.  And yet, every saint on the calendar and all who are not, as well, acted because they saw what they were doing as flowing from Christ’s teachings.  I don’t think Mother Theresa would have said the words, “When did I see you hungry and I fed you?”  That’s exactly why she lived her life the way she did.  She saw Jesus in the people she served.  So who are these people Jesus is talking about?

One very interesting idea is that Jesus uses the words “least of my brothers”.  We know that elsewhere he says that his brothers and sisters and mother are those who hear the word of God and keep it.  Jesus identifies his family by their response to his teaching.  But if you are imitating Jesus, you risk being hungry, thirsty, seen as a stranger;  we probably don’t have to worry too much about being naked, at least not in this country.  But being ill or imprisoned because we follow Jesus, those are real possibilities as well. Not so much here in the United States in the twenty-first century, but our Christian brothers and sisters are suffering throughout much of the world.  And in Jesus’ time it was much worse.  If you were a Christian in the Roman empire of the first century, you might very well be thrown in prison, deprived of food and drink.  If you weren’t you might be prevented from getting a decent job because you wouldn't worship the emperor.  And if things were really bad, you could be paraded naked through the streets like the terrorists did with the hostages they captured in Israel.  It’s a great way to insult someone, to make them go naked in public.  

There is a story about Cardinal Van Thuan who was imprisoned by the Vietnamese communists for thirteen years.  He made friends with one of the guards.  The guard offered to pray to Our Lady of La Vang, on behalf of the Cardinal, since he walked past the shrine on his way home every day.  He would pray, “Dear Lady, I am not a Christian, but please give Cardinal Van Thuan what he needs today.”  

Maybe Jesus is making a promise that he won’t forget even the slightest bit of kindness rendered to one of his followers, even by non-believers.  In another place in scripture he says, “If anyone gives one of these little ones who is my disciple a cup of water, he will not go unrewarded.”  

On this feast of Christ the King let us remember again that Jesus desires the salvation of all human beings, and he will achieve that through his people, you and I.  And while we are so fortunate because we belong to the Church he founded, he makes possible his salvation to everyone, if they do nothing more than to come to the aid of one of his brothers or sisters -- you and I.    

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle A

 Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle A

Matthew 25:14-30

I’m sure many of you football fans have been following the career of Mac Jones, who led the Patriots to the playoffs two years ago. We thought we had another Tom Brady. And then things started to go sour. Under Mac Jones the Patriots now have the worst record in the American Football Conference. When you read the sport pages and sometimes I do, various theories about why the change are advanced. It’s the coaching; it’s the defense, which no longer is the best in the league; it’s the changes in personnel at the top. But maybe it’s possible that Mac Jones, who once went out on the field to win games, is now going out trying not to lose; and that is a terrible way to play football or do anything in life, I guess.

If you go back and read the Sunday gospels for the last three Sundays, you will see that the parables all have something to do with what we are supposed to be doing while waiting for Christ’s return. The greatest among you must be your servant. Therefore, stay awake, you know neither the day nor the hour. And today, for everyone who has, more will be given and he will become rich. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away from him.

The parable of the talents which we just read, needs a little exposition. A talent is a lot. A talent was a unit of weight for precious metals, kind of like we use carats for weighing diamonds. If you google it, you would find that the average laborer would probably not quite earn a whole talent if he worked for twenty years. So this man going on a journey is really rich, and I don’t know what fraction of his wealth he entrusted to his servants, maybe all of it, maybe some; but imagine how those listening to Jesus must have reacted. They are thinking, what would I do if someone gave me a talent? And what kind of man would trust his servants that much?

Maybe that’s the first thing about this parable. How much God trusts us. He gives us free will, a beautiful world, clear instructions through his prophets and the Church and especially through his Son, and then he stands back crossing his fingers, waiting for us to make real the kingdom of God which is among us. And we make a little progress, and we fall back, and by fits and starts maybe we see a little progress -- and ultimately we trust that somehow God’s side will triumph in the long run.

Notice that the servants get different amounts of the talents. That should be reassuring. Not everyone can be a mother Theresa or a Saint Francis; some of us can aspire to be like Saint Louis and Saint Zele Martin, the parents of Saint Therese of Lisieux; or maybe Saint Guiseppe Mosconi, who spent his life becoming holy as a physician; or maybe Blessed Carlos Acutis, or Saint Maria Goretti, who died as teenagers. Or maybe someone who isn’t even on the books yet. But what they all have in common is love; they died like Jesus did, having done everything they could to take the love in their hearts and reach out to others in the way God inspired them to do. That’s what God does. He gives us his love in proportion to our capacity to multiply it. Some tenfold, some five fold, some two-fold. And God doesn’t compare one with the other. If you multiply what you have been given, you will be told, Well done.

But the man who received one talent. Instead of multiplying the love in the world, which is what building up the kingdom of heaven is all about, he holds it back. He doesn’t love. Oh, he feels the impulse, he has the opportunity, but maybe like Mac Jones, he’s always second guessing himself. And over time his capacity to love diminishes until there isn’t any at all.

And I think there is another thing here. You get the feeling that the man who went off on a journey is a hard taskmaster who gathers where he did not scatter, and so forth. Maybe not; maybe our poor one talent guy talked himself into believing that. The master kind of agrees with his opinion, but points out that the one talent guy could have racked up a little interest -- that would have required very little of him, and he would still have received his master’s praise.

Some of you are aware of Matthew Kelly, who seems to be on fire evangelizing. He recently sent us something called the “Holy Moments bucket list”. It consists of thirty things to do in order to have the best month of your life -- and I suspect, bring you closer to passing on the love God has for you. Here are a few:

Mail a handwritten note to someone you care about, telling them how much they mean to you.

Tell your supervisor about something good that your co-worker did.

Practice generosity by leaving a 50% tip.

Make a list of things that scare you, pick one out, and do it.

You get the idea. Practice loving by doing loving things, for others, for yourself, for God. And you will begin to hear those words - Well done, good and faithful servant -- and you will find yourself eager to do more for your master.