God Given Gifts must be put to use

 1 Cor. 1:26-31, Mt. 25:14-30. In today’s first reading, Paul offers a central guiding norm for keeping up the quality of our life: Jesus is our sanctification, for He enables our best self to emerge; and He is our redemption, so that we form one living person with Jesus, whose spirit and example we follow in everything. We follow Jesus who revealed a God of infinite generosity. He shows us a God whose goodness leaves us astonished, who remains faithful even when we are not faithful. Jesus does not reveal a God who waits for us to fail, which is how the third servant recounted in today’s Gospel parable saw his master.

In the parable, the third servant had a very negative view of his master; he saw him as a hard man, reaping where he had not sown. Since he was so afraid of his master, he did nothing with what he had been given. Like any machine with moving parts, God’s gifts must be kept in use in order to stay in good condition. Non-use leads to stagnation, rusted parts and clogged-up valves. Physical and spiritual life degenerates if kept in isolation and confinement. In contrast, the other two servants had a much more generous view of their master. As a result, they had the freedom to take initiatives and take risks with what they had been given. God’s loving fidelity should give us the courage to take risks with what God has given us. Perfect love drives out fear. The assurance of God’s perfect love should drive out the kind of fear that left the third servant crippled. God who has been generous with us asks us to be generous with what we have received and leave the rest to God.

May the Lord renew His strength within us, so that we may be able to put our God Given Gifts to effective use! Amen!! Happy weekend!!!