Solemnity of Christ the King


Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:

Proverbs 31:10-13,19-20,30-31
Psalm 128:1-5
1 Thessalonian 5:1-6
Matthew 25:14-30


A reflection on today's Scripture:

The gospel today is long, but it is a single thought. It is a thought of amazing delicacy and intricacy bearing much thought and meditation. But it is also a thought of amazing practicality.

To boil it down to a single sentence Jesus says quite simply, "Use what you have been given or risk losing it." This represents a reality present in all realms of existence. If we pause to consider, we can think of times during which we did not exercise as much as we thought we should. When it came time to lift that fifty-pound bag, it felt a good deal heavier than fifty pounds.

What is not used, stagnates; it doesn't even maintain its value. Take the example of the last of the stewards. If he were he to do something similar in today's world, by the time the master returned, the "talent" would not be worth even a talent, it would have diminished in value. It would not have kept pace with the times.

Jesus wants us to live a full and vibrant life. To do so we need to take each of the gifts we have been given -- our minds, our senses, our good health, our money, our friends, our church -- whatever it is that we have been graced with, and we need to use each of those in the way God would have them used: to further the aims of the Church and to help our brothers and sisters, our sense to delight in the wonders of the world around us.

When we begin to treasure what we have been given, one talent will become ten, a hundred, a thousand! We will become palaces of great spiritual treasure to all of those around us. All this through living abundantly, taking risks for the sake of God. When we bury our talent we end up only with a moldy, devalued talent. When we take it into the world, with our service dedicated to God, we can be certain that it will be wonderful indeed!

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