Readings
33rd Sunday in Ordinary TimeProv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; 1 Thess 5:1-6; Matt 25:14-30 or Matt 25:14-15, 19-21
Homily Theme
Gifts
The readings this week don't lend themselves to a single thought for me, but are rich in many different approaches sufficient for several different sermons rather than a single Homily. I have chosen to concentrate just on the gifts we have received that don't bear fruit. In the first reading, it talks about the gift of a good wife. The psalm speaks to the husband and wife. These words are for those who have received this gift of the Sacrament of Marriage to take it to heart. How are you using your gifts as husband or a wife? Are they bearing fruit as God planned for you both? Do you really live the sacrament of love or merely just live together? Have you accepted all the family that God planned for you to have? There is a difference between those who merely live together and those who live with the gift of the Sacrament of Marriage. This is a Sacrament that must be lived with the grace it brings each day. Not all of us have been called by God to a marriage state. We have received different gifts and have been called by Him to bear fruit in many other different ways.
The second reading, warns us to be prepared to be ready for the day when God will come like a thief in the night. Don't bury your gifts for God will see how you have used them or have failed to do so. Let us check our lives to see if there are any gifts that we have buried, thinking as we do so, that they were not really worth much. Every one has been given some talent, or gift: no matter how insignificant it may appear to be to us. It must not be buried and forgotten and left unused. The Gospel this week speaks to us all and tells us what happens to people who think like that.
If you are baptized and are a member of your parish church what are you doing to build up the community of God there? If you have a good voice, then join the choir. You could volunteer building and helping a parish youth group or teaching CCD classes. If you are athletic why not volunteer to coach the sports events in the parish. Lastly, if you are well situated, tithe and help the poor. Perhaps you could offer to visit the sick or teach the faith to others. Call somebody on the phone if you can't get out and about and bring cheer to another shut in. All of us have some gift and talent from God. Some have received more than others but everyone has received a gift of some kind.
Remember:
Wasted talents and gifts don't bear fruit.