Nov. 15, 2020: 33rd Sunday A

 Nov. 15, 2020: 33rd Sunday A

Parents, besides yelling, what are some of the creative ways that you’ve tried to motivate your children to take responsibility in what you asked them to do? In one household, the children woke up one morning and found that their tablets and Chromebooks couldn’t connect to the internet. When they went to the kitchen to complain to their parents, they found a simple sign on the refrigerator door which read, “Want today’s WIFI password? (1) Make your beds, (2) vacuum downstairs, and (3) walk the dog.” The older generation remembers how their parents motivated them to do chores. When mom or dad left the house, they would remind their kids of what’s hanging on the wall—daddy’s belt or mama’s spatula. Implicit in their message was that by the time the parents returned, the kids were expected to complete their responsibilities or they will face the consequences of the belt or the spatula. Fear of punishment can certainly motivate someone temporarily. However, such fear does not produce a lasting and profound transformation in someone. In other words, you can get momentary compliance using fear, but you can’t expect lifelong commitment using fear. Only love can profoundly change someone. Later when children grow up and become parents, they begin to understand that what his or her parents did for them was out of profound love for their child. While a child may vividly remember moments of discipline and correction, a child may be unaware that the vast majority of time what he or she received from their parents was sacrificial love.

Two common themes that run through all of our scriptural readings this weekend are the “fear of the Lord” and being well prepared. The “fear of the Lord” in the Wisdom writings is not about dreading punishment from a stern, harsh God. Instead, the fear denotes profound awe, amazement, and respect for God because the truly wise disciple understands that she is loved beyond measure and that God provides everything for her out of His goodness. Imperfect understanding of fear is held by those who dread punishment of hell, so they’re anxious about the slightest thing that may displease God.

In the confessional, I encounter folks who feel the necessity to come every day to confess because of the slightest doubt or thought that may have offended God. Then there are folks who never come to confession because either they do not know the consequences of sins or that they no longer listen to the voice of God speaking through their conscience. While the first group is imprisoned by scrupulosity and an unhealthy preoccupation with punishment, the latter group has turned away from depending on a loving and merciful God. They think that God is so merciful that they don’t even have to ask for mercy, that it’s doled out without any responsibility. St. Paul reminds us, “My beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12) Both groups of folks are imperfect. In a sense, both groups are embodied in the third servant who received only one talent In the Parable of Talents.  

In the Parable, a master puts his servants in charge of his property while he is away on a trip. Upon his return, he evaluates the stewardship of his servants by how they have wisely invested their master’s goods to obtain a profit. The first and the second servant have been very industrious, doubling the amount entrusted to them. The third servant did nothing with the money entrusted to him and offered the excuse that he was intimidated by the demanding character of the master. In response, the master turns the table using the servant’s own words. If the servant truly feared the master, then he should have at least put the money in the bank so that interest could be earned. The master strips the one talent that the third servant had and then casts the servant out of the household.

While many have interpreted this parable as a lesson in using generously our God given abilities and gifts, there is another way to view this parable. This parable asks us whether we are preparing for Our Lord’s return. 2,000 years ago, Our Lord was crucified, died, resurrected, and ascended into heaven. Before he ascended into heaven, he entrusted to his disciples the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the inestimable treasure of the Father’s divine mercy to them. He also promised that he would return. What are we to do while we await for his return? Are we to passively wait and do nothing with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all the while, eating and drinking the world’s pleasures? Rather, are we to use our short life on earth as a period of opportunity and growth, to become great stewards of divine mercy following in the footsteps of Mother Teresa, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Faustina? God is giving each of us a tremendous opportunity to share in the work of His divine mercy. 

Mother Teresa said the whole gospel could be summarized on her five fingers, “You-did-it-to-me.” She was alluding to Matthew 25 where Jesus teaches about the final judgment. Our Lord explained that at the end of the world he will judge people by their deeds of mercy. To the kind and merciful, he will say, “Come you who are blessed by my Father… For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” The divine mercy of God is to be given to others as a pure gift. To do nothing with this amazing gift of love, is like burying it in the ground and living in this world only for ourselves. 

As we approach the great feast of Christ the King next week, we need to reflect whether we are prepared to answer Christ Our King, “What did you do with my gift of mercy?”