Breaking the Word

21^st Week in Ord. Time, Saturday – 27^th August 2022 — Gospel: Mt 25,14-30

Personal Responsibility

The parable teaches that the way to gain the kingdom is to work for it harder. God needs the cooperation of everyone with their personal responsibility. In this parable Jesus expresses the importance of diligence and faithfulness while living in watchfulness. The issue is not when the master will return or whether the slaves will be surprised by his return but whether they are trustworthy in using the master’s resources that is entrusted to them. The servant who buried his talent is clever enough to grasp his master’s thinking, criticize his doing and even gifted in speech to persuade him. However, he lacked courage and enthusiasm to take new initiatives and failed to bring out his potential. God does not tolerate mediocrity but demands personal responsibility. Human beings alone have the capacity to make decisions, to plan things ahead and to exhibit creativity in their work. Therefore God gives many qualities and abilities for the good of others and each one needs to accept responsibilities without fear of criticism or failure, so that he will entrust much more. God the hard task master takes advantage of his servants and demands something from us, not for his sake but for our prosperity.

21^st Week in Ord. Time, Friday – 26^th August 2022 — Gospel: Mt 25,1-13

Wait not till the End

There is a time that can be too late. Certain things cannot be obtained at the last minute, like the unwise virgins. They couldn’t borrow oil, so they had to try to obtain some on their own, but they missed the bridegroom and were locked out. They knocked on the door in faith, but they received the reply that the Lord didn’t know them. For the Lord to know us and to be on time for the wedding banquet, we need to spend our time getting to know him intimately. Many of us often put off the most important thing in our life, which is to make God a priority in our life. We allow the devil to deceive by saying, “There’s always time.” Like a good thief on the cross, we think we’ll have a chance at the end of our life.  If we are foolish, there will be a time when there will be no time left, when the door will be shut. We need to be awake, always alert, full of love, waiting for the Lord’s return doing things on or before time.