Daily Gospel Reflection

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September 2, 2023

Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 25:14-30
Listen to the Audio Version

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“A man going on a journey
called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.
To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one–
to each according to his ability.
Then he went away.
Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them,
and made another five.
Likewise, the one who received two made another two.
But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground
and buried his master’s money.
After a long time
the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them.
The one who had received five talents
came forward bringing the additional five.
He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents.
See, I have made five more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master’s joy.’
Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said,
‘Master, you gave me two talents.
See, I have made two more.’
His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master’s joy.’
Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said,
‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person,
harvesting where you did not plant
and gathering where you did not scatter;
so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.
Here it is back.’
His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant!
So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant
and gather where I did not scatter?
Should you not then have put my money in the bank
so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?
Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten.
For to everyone who has,
more will be given and he will grow rich;
but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.
And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'”

Reflection

Mike Urbaniak ’10, ’14, M.Div.
Assistant Director of Pastoral Care for Campus Ministry
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“Just trust me…” As a father of young kids experiencing new things for the first time, I have found these words coming out of my mouth more and more often. They might be said to reassure that everything will be alright with a trip to the doctor, or they might be said in anticipation of excitement at the new experience of going to a new city with new parks and places to explore. My years give me a broader perspective than my kids have. I implore their trust because I know I have this wider experience and have their best interests at heart.

Like the servants in the parable, we have been entrusted with many graces as God’s children. With that, we are called to be stewards of those gifts and to multiply them. We are not to keep them hidden to ourselves, fearful and stagnant.

I feel that what holds me back from truly multiplying the graces God has given me is trust. I often prefer the safety and security of knowing what’s been in my experience rather than trusting the experience of a God whose perspective is of a horizon far beyond mine. I would rather cling to my “joy,” however malnourished, than trust in the graces given and come to share in “the master’s joy.”

What might that trust look like? It is no coincidence that the answer follows this parable in Matthew 25:31-46: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, look after the sick, and visit the imprisoned. Those who use God’s possessions to do these things, who trust that God will take care of those who use God’s gifts in these ways, will hear that same call to “Come, share your master’s joy.”

Prayer

Rev. Michael Thomas, C.S.C.

You, Father, share your very life with us: the fire of your love. Your love burns away our sin and shines into the corners of our darkness. Your love and mercy clean and save us, painfully proving that we need cleaning and saving. Sometimes we want to forget our neediness, so we bury your love in the cold earth, afraid of the promise of mercy. But to those who have your love, more will be given. Multiply your life in us, and give us the courage to multiply on earth the shining mercy you place in our trembling hands. Amen.

Saint of the Day

St. Maxima

St. Maxima was a house servant and nanny to a family of imperial nobility in ancient Rome. She was given responsibility for caring for the family’s son, Ansanus, and she secretly baptized him as a child and raised him as a Christian.

When he was 19, Ansanus’ own father denounced him as a Christian during a persecution. Ansanus boldly admitted his faith, and both he and Maxima were beaten and scourged; Maxima died from these wounds. Ansanus survived, and escaped Rome and fled north.

As he traveled, he told those he met the good news of Jesus Christ, and baptized so many people in the region near Siena that he became known as Ansanus the Baptizer. He was finally captured and beheaded by order of the emperor.

St. Ansanus is known as the Apostle of Siena and is that city’s patron saint; his feast day is December 1. The relics of St. Maxima rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.

St. Maxima, you were the nanny who was martyred for raising a saint, pray for us!