Dear friends in Christ
During these final weeks of the liturgical year, the Church calls us to consider the eternal truths. These truths are of immediate relevance to our souls. As we read in the Second Reading of today's Mass, our encounter with the Lord will arrive without warning, like a thief in the night. No matter how prepared we think we are for its arrival, death always takes us by surprise. In today's Gospel the Lord teaches us that we must spend our earthly life in such a way as to win Heaven.
Jesus compares our time on earth to a long-term leasing arrangement. For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The owner knew the capacity of each of his servants. The meaning of the parable is crystal clear. We are the servants. The talents are the qualities God has bestowed on us - our intelligence, our ability to love, our power to make others happy, temporal goods ... The journey of the master signifies the duration of our life. His unexpected return signifies our death. The settling of accounts is our judgment. The banquet is Heaven. The Lord frequently reminds us in the Gospels that we do not own what we have. We are stewards entrusted with God's property. A day will come when we shall have to give an account of our behaviour. Let us examine our whole approach to the gifts we have received from God. Do we think of ourselves as stewards, or do we live under the illusion that we are the true owners of what we possess?
When a life comes to an end, perhaps we may think something like a candle has gone out. But we should also see death as the time when something like a tapestry has been completed. We have watched this tapestry being made from the reverse side where the design of the artwork is blurred and the knots and twisted loops of the needlework are prominent. Our Father God contemplates the tapestry from the good side. He is pleased to behold a finished work that manifests a life-long effort to make good use of time.
Next weekend we celebration the Kingship of Christ on the final Sunday of the liturgical calendar; it is also National Youth Sunday, so there is a focus on the place of our young people within the family of the Church. This is followed later that week with the annual days of Solemn Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament—the Forty Hours' Prayer. You can find the lists for Watching during those days at the back of church.
God bless you!
Msgr Kevin Hale