Good morning good people, May the Lord give you peace and health in the Holy Spirit.
It is 28th August 2021.
We reflect on 1 Thess. 4:9-11 and the Gospel of Matthew 25:14-30
We celebrate the memorial of St. Augustine. He offers hope to all people especially the young ones who feel that they need to find the way to God. Returning to the Lord is indeed grace that bubbles out of prayer, perseverance, and penance of one’s own or of another. Two quotes of the saint help me come closer to the Lord time and time again. It might be an inspiration to you too. “You stir us up, O Lord, and make us find joy in praising you since you have made us for yourselves; and our hearts find no rest until they rest in you.” “Late have I love you, O beauty both ancient and new, late have I loved you. You called, you cried out and you rid me of my deafness.” The influence of Saints Ambrose and Monica, his own mother on his life is indisputable and had a tremendous impact on his conversion.
We all love indeed. We love the other in a particular manner, perhaps for reason or for a season. No display of love ever reached its peak so far in our life. Mostly we wonder, shocked, shaken, disappointed, hurt, broken, betrayed, joyful, touched, and celebrating while we love others or are loved by others. St. Paul urges the community of Thessalonica to grow up and mature in the way they love others. He proposed them to mind their own business without interfering in the life of others. Some of us are convinced that poking our noses and smelling the issues of others is authentic love. St. Paul begs to differ. “But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you.” (1 Thes.4:11). Yes, when we are focused on all that is entrusted to us, we do not have time, energy, and resource to scratch, and hurt the rough sides of other’s life. The quality of Christian life is the willing and generous participation of the building of the community without expecting anything in return.
St Ignatius Loyola summarizes it this way: “Do all things as if everything depended on God and nothing on you, and do all things as if everything depended on you and nothing on God.”
The Gospel encourages us to look at our life and the gifts we have received from the Lord. Everyone is entrusted with something. Some with plenty, and others with what is required. Hence, we will be surely asked by the Lord, the giver of the talents and gifts, the detailed account of the talents and their usage. The responsibility that is placed on our shoulders is enormous. We need to ask the help of the Holy Spirit to discern our talents and put them to use for the welfare of the church and the community we believe and belong respectively. The gifts and talents are not only for personal upliftment but specifically for the betterment of the community. “From those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” This is not only painful but also God’s justice done to us for not using it and consequently we lose it. Are we remaining lazy and comparing with others about what others got or are wise and trustworthy people who add glory to God’s work? We have the option to be the servants who looked at God as the generous Giver who deserves to reciprocate or we can remain a complainer, criticizer, sceptic, faultfinder and pessimistic about God.
May the Lord help us to be generous and diligent to work out the best. God bless you.