Children of the Light and of the Day

11-19-2023Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

The three readings from today’s mass challenge us to do good work, be wise in our activity and to know how to take advantage of our time, because we never know when our time will run out. The parable Christ tells us sets the tone for today’s biblical message: we must use well the gifts we have received, not just by spending all our talents, but by multiplying their fruits.

There is a Castilian saying that goes: “Praying to God, but still swinging the hammer.” (A Dios rogando y con el mazo dando.) Faith is one of the talents that we must invest. We are each beneficiaries of something more valuable than the huge quantities of money mentioned in the parable. To bury it in mere fulfillment of the law, in routine, or to hide it would make us worthy of the Lord’s condemnation. Rather, we must live our faith, nourish it, give testimony to it, and share it.

We do not earn our talents; we receive them freely. The three servants in the parable receive the same gift but in different quantities. In the Christian life we do not begin from nothing, we do not start from zero. Our existence is built by gifts that have been freely given us and placed at our disposal. All is grace. Our task is no more than a response to the gifts that we have found in our hands. The “master” has put something in our hands for us to work with, and this something becomes “ours.”

Today’s question is twofold and very clear: Do we really make all the possibilities we have bear fruit? And is this fruit at the service of the Kingdom of God? It is not enough to just bury the talents we’ve been given, or what is worse, to do business with them for our own profit. We must multiply them for the master who has entrusted them to us. And behind this twofold question there is one basic conviction: to work and do business for this Master is the greatest and most worthwhile thing we can do in our lives.

In light of today’s gospel, we should examine our own consciences. First regarding our laziness and indifference. How are we using our talents of knowledge, time, and money? Do I use my talents to serve the poor, the needy and the disadvantaged? We must take our lives seriously! May we one day hear the words that Paul said to the Christians of Thessalonica in today’s second reading: “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness.”

All the best…in Christ,

Father Wilson