Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, all the children of mankind all have received the various gifts, talents and blessings from God. All of us have been entrusted with those gifts with the intention of the Lord calling on us to share them and to make good use of them for the benefit of all those around us, for the good and benefit of everyone and not just for our own selfish needs and desires. We have been entrusted with all these so that we may be part of God’s Church and mission, to proclaim His truth and Good News to everyone around us.
In our first reading today, we heard of the continuation of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians in which the Apostle told the people of God there how they have been chosen by God to be His disciples and followers, and many among them were not important, powerful or influential in the eyes of the world. This does not mean that God was against the rich, powerful and influential ones in the world, but rather, He wanted to highlight to His beloved people, to all of us that He did not choose or judge us by our worldly qualities, possessions or by any other parameters which we often categorise ourselves into, as all those things are ultimately superficial and not what is truly important for all of us. Unfortunately, many of us often spent a lot of time and effort in trying to seek all those things instead of seeking what is truly important for us in our lives.
The Lord chose based on other qualities that often do not correspond with worldly standards of judgment, as this world often focuses on our material wealth, influence and fame, our physical appearances and other attributes which may prevent us from truly being able to follow the Lord faithfully, sincerely and with true commitment. That is because when we are obsessed with accumulating for ourselves those worldly things and matters, we often end up neglecting our responsibilities as Christians, in making good use of our gifts, talents and the guidance of God’s Wisdom, for the benefit of others around us. Instead, we often spend a lot of time and effort to try to garner for ourselves more of these worldly riches and possessions, all of which distract us from the true destination that we have in the Lord, as mentioned earlier.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Matthew in which the parable of the silver talents was told by the Lord to His disciples and to all those who were there listening to Him. In that parable we heard of how a master was going away overseas and chose to entrust three of his servants with some silver talents for them to make good use of and responsibly while he was away on his business. Then, we heard how the three servants acted differently with the silver which had been given to them. Each one of them were entrusted with different amounts of silver talents, with the one who were given five and two talents of silver investing and making good use of them and they gained the same amount in silver talents each, doubling what they had earlier from the master.
Meanwhile, the other servant who was only given one silver talent chose to hide it and not to use it at all, and because of that, by the time the master returns to ask for the results and reckoning the performance of his servants, that servant still had with him the same one silver talent. Those servants that had invested and doubled their investment were well-rewarded and entrusted by the master with great things, while the lazy and irresponsible servant faced the wrath of his master for his lack of action and irresponsibility. Instead of being rewarded, the lazy and irresponsible servant faced punishment and rebuke from the master, which is also a reminder for each and every one of us of what all of us are expected to do by God, our Lord and Master.
First of all, as we heard this, we must understand that as mentioned and discussed earlier in the first reading, God does not discriminate based on riches and wealth, or by how much He has blessed or gifted us with. We must not misunderstood that those who have received more, like those with five and two silver talents would be rewarded while the ones with less, like the servant with one silver talent would be punished. It was an analogy that the Lord used to show that what matters is our attitude and how we respond to what He has given and entrusted to us. More would be expected of those who have received more, and we should also make good use of these various gifts for everyone’s benefit and not just for ourselves.
It is important that we know and understanding this mission which we have been entrusted with by the Lord, to show love, care and concern towards one another, to our fellow brothers and sisters who may need our help and attention, particularly all those who have no one to care for them, those who have been neglected, abandoned and ignored by all others. As Christians, whatever we have been blessed with by God, and the many opportunities we have been given, they should be used for the greater good of those who are around us. We should not ignore the plight of those who are in need, and we must also realise that we have been given the opportunities to contribute our good works and actions to advance further the cause of the Lord and to fulfil the missions we have been entrusted with.
Let us all therefore renew our commitment to the Lord and do not allow ourselves to be led into inaction and ignorance of our responsibilities and missions as those whom God had called and chosen. Let us all be committed from now on to live lives that are truly worthy of the Lord, being good role models and inspiration for one another. May our lives as God’s holy and beloved people, as His faithful and committed disciples be inspiration and beacons of God’s light and truth to everyone. May God bless us all in our every actions, good works and endeavours, now and always. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 