![\"Homeless](\"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/thumbRNS-HOMELESS-SHOWERS111314b-500x333.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The first reading and the gospel can be summarized like this:
\n\u201cDo not be afraid to use what has been entrusted to you.\u201d
\nIn both readings something precious is entrusted to someone,
\nand in both readings fear plays an important role.<\/p>\n
The master entrusts his possessions to his three servants.
\nAnd the husband entrusts his heart to his wife.
\nThe third servant is afraid of the master.
\nAnd the worthy wife has the Fear of the Lord.<\/p>\n
To entrust is to put something precious into another\u2019s care.
\nThe master puts his possessions into the care of his servants.
\nFive talents, three talents, even one talent\u2014
\nthese are great sums of money.
\nThe master is placing his trust in the ability of his servants
\nto do something with that capital.
\nThey\u2019re expected to use the money to increase it,
\nso that when the man returns from his journey
\nthere is more than when he left.
\nThey are to buy low and sell high,
\nand make smart investments.
\nIt\u2019s risky, trading with someone else\u2019s money.
\nThere\u2019s always the chance you will lose some of it,
\nor all of it.<\/p>\n
A husband takes a chance, too, entrusting his heart to his wife,
\njust as a wife takes a chance entrusting her heart to her husband.
\nThe two enter into a covenant,
\na solemn promise of unending relationship.
\nThe husbands offers his entire being to his wife.
\nThe wife offers her entire being to her husband.
\nBoth intend to grow together, not to remain stagnant through life.
\nThey remain open to the possibility and the reality of children.
\nThey learn together what true love is.
\nBut it\u2019s risky to open your heart so much to another person.
\nThere\u2019s always the chance for pain and betrayal.
\nAnd the more of yourself you entrust, the greater the risk.<\/p>\n
We have been entrusted with something precious.<\/p>\n
Through our baptism, we have been given a trust.
\nLike the master going on the journey,
\nGod has entrusted his possessions to us:
\nThis planet, our families, our physical bodies, our jobs.<\/p>\n
But even more importantly,
\nlike the husband of the worthy wife,
\nGod has entrusted his heart to us.<\/p>\n
The worthy wife is held up to us today
\nas a model of how to receive God\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n
With strength drawn from her husband\u2019s heart,
\nThe worthy wife reaches out her hand to the poor and needy.
\nTrue love between a wife and husband
\nalways moves beyond just the two of them
\nand into the greater community.
\nShe is a worthy wife because she does the work of love.<\/p>\n
We, the Church, are called to be like this wife in Proverbs.
\nScripture is filled with marriage imagery
\nto describe the relationship between Christ and his Church.
\nChrist is our Bridegroom and we are his Bride.<\/p>\n
How do we as Church measure up to the worthy wife?
\nGod has entrusted his heart to us in an eternal covenant.
\nDo we bring God good and not evil?
\nDo we reach out our hands to the poor,
\nand our arms to the needy?<\/p>\n
A few days ago the Vatican announced
\nthat this coming Monday, November 17,
\nthe Church in Rome is going to start building showers for the homeless
\nin the public bathrooms at St. Peter\u2019s square.
\nFr. Conrad, the priest appointed by Pope Francis
\nto look after the needs of the poor and homeless in Rome,
\nis personally supervising the project.<\/p>\n
He also visits the parishes in Rome
\nin areas where the homeless dwell
\nand he examines the parish halls
\nto see if there are showers that the homeless can use.
\nIf there aren\u2019t any showers, he asks them to be built,
\npaid for by the Pope\u2019s charity.<\/p>\n
Fr. Conrad is also working with a nearby school for hairdressers,
\nso that in addition to getting a shower,
\nthe homeless can also get a haircut every once in a while.<\/p>\n
This is just one way the Church can be like
\nthe worthy wife of Proverbs,
\nthis is how we can be like the two servants
\nwho increased their master\u2019s wealth.<\/p>\n
What new, creative ways
\ncan our parish community use what has been entrusted to us?<\/p>\n
One thing our parish has been given
\nis the means and talent to put on lovely dinners and receptions.
\nIt takes great coordination, talent, and taste
\nto put together the kinds of social events that we sponsor.
\nAnd our parish has been given those gifts,
\nwhich were fully on display
\nin the elegant farewell reception for Bishop Cupich.
\nThe Knights of Columbus breakfasts, the dinner dances,
\nthe wine and cheese socials,
\nthese parish events bring us closer together.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s only one thing that could make them better:
\nHaving more people there,
\nespecially the poor and the needy.<\/p>\n
Down at the bottom of the hill
\nwe see the face of the poor standing on the corner
\nas we enter or exit the freeway.
\nThese men and women with their signs asking for food or work
\nare also treasures entrusted to us by the Bridegroom.<\/p>\n
Maybe what we need is a reception for the needy,
\na monthly dinner event where the homeless, the poor,
\nthe physically or mentally handicapped
\ncan come and be treated like royalty,
\nwhere there are candles on the tables,
\ncloth napkins next to china plates,
\nand classical music in the background.<\/p>\n
Would this solve the problem of poverty? No.<\/p>\n
But it would allow us to see Christ
\nin people where we\u2019ve never seen Christ before.
\nAnd it would allow us to be Christ to people in need.
\nAnd who knows what the fruit of such an event might be?<\/p>\n
We have been entrusted with this building,
\nwith a parish hall and a kitchen.
\nThis parish is in close proximity to both the needy
\nand the comfortable.<\/p>\n
Could we come together for the sake of Christ?<\/p>\n
And what can we do in our families, in our personal lives
\nto reach out our hands to the poor,
\nto extend our arms to the needy?<\/p>\n
Maybe you saw the headlines out of Florida a few weeks ago,
\nwhere 90-year-old Arnold Abbot was arrested
\nfor giving food to the homeless in a public park
\nagainst city regulations.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s always a risk involved in using what is entrusted to us.<\/p>\n
The Vatican might be afraid
\nthat showers would attract more homeless men and women,
\nand would frighten away visitors.
\nWe might be afraid of the kind of people that would show up
\nif we held a dinner for the homeless.<\/p>\n
We might be afraid that helping the needy would be enabling them,
\ntaking away their initiative to get out of their situation.<\/p>\n
Our fears can keep us from doing good.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the warning of the third servant in today\u2019s gospel.
\nHe was afraid of punishment,
\nso he buried the money he\u2019d been entrusted with.
\nHe was full of fear.
\n\u201cWhat if I lose some or all of my master\u2019s money?\u201d<\/p>\n
But the worthy wife was full of fear, too:
\nFear of the Lord.<\/p>\n
Fear of the Lord is a gift of the Holy Spirit.
\nIt is a fear, not of punishment,
\nbut of damaging our relationship with God.
\nFear of the Lord grows out of a deep love for God,
\na love so great that we can\u2019t bear the thought
\nof doing anything apart from God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n
Human fear makes us afraid to reach out our hands to the poor.
\nFear of the Lord asks,
\n\u201cWhat if I miss this chance to see God in the homeless or needy,
\nto be Christ to my sisters and brothers?\u201d<\/p>\n
Human fear makes us bury what\u2019s been entrusted to us.
\nFear of the Lord leads us to risk our time, our talent, our treasure,
\nfor the sake of those in need.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Good news calls us
\nto be unafraid to use what is entrusted to us,
\nto be the worthy wife of Christ our Bridegroom,
\nand bring good not evil
\nall the days of our life.<\/p>\n