Nov. 8, 2011 Tuesday: 32nd Week in Ordinary Time (A)
When St. Ignatius wrote his directions on how to pray the "colloquy" -- a sort of back and forth conversational period of prayer at the end of a block of meditation time -- he advises that sometimes we speak to the Lord as we speak to a friend, and other times, as a servant speaks to his master. Experience with master-servant relations is significantly rarer for the average middle-class person in the western world today, so it can be difficult to relate to Ignatius' advice. Yet we shouldn't dismiss it. It is, after all, an integral part of how Jesus interacted with the Apostles. His parable today hits home: the master is not grateful to the servant for simply doing what he is told.
That's the servant's job. The servant, on the other hand, shouldn't expect the master to be brimming over with gratitude. Then Jesus tells us "When you have done all you have been commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do."
This is not the only way we have to relate to God, and friendship with God through Christ is a marvelous way to picture the spiritual life. Nevertheless, we should be able to consider ourselves to be servants, and so perform with grace those things we have been commanded to do by the master.
-Mr. Timothy Kieras, SJ
That's the servant's job. The servant, on the other hand, shouldn't expect the master to be brimming over with gratitude. Then Jesus tells us "When you have done all you have been commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do."
This is not the only way we have to relate to God, and friendship with God through Christ is a marvelous way to picture the spiritual life. Nevertheless, we should be able to consider ourselves to be servants, and so perform with grace those things we have been commanded to do by the master.
-Mr. Timothy Kieras, SJ
