![\"Treasure](\"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/treasureofpearls.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
As the church year begins to wind down over the next two weeks,
\nmany of the the Scripture readings are about the end of time,
\nwhen Jesus will come again.
\nSo today\u2019s first reading may seem out of place.<\/p>\n
In the cycle of readings for Sunday,
\nthe first reading is paired with the gospel.
\nBut today\u2019s reading from Proverbs about the worthy wife
\nseems a bit disconnected from the gospel.
\nWhy are these two readings paired together today?
\nSince the gospel seems to fit this time of year more appropriately,
\nwe\u2019ll start with that and work backwards to the first reading.<\/p>\n
In the gospel Jesus tells a parable
\nabout a man who goes on a journey.
\nBefore he leaves he entrusts enormous amounts of money to his servants.
\nThe word talent that\u2019s used
\nis roughly equivalent to a person\u2019s entire earnings over a lifetime.
\nSo to one servant the man gives 5 lifetimes of salary,
\nto another he gives 2 lifetimes,
\nand to a third he gives 1 lifetime.<\/p>\n
Jesus is using exaggeration here–
\nthese are ridiculous amounts of money.
\nIn fact, these are the man\u2019s entire possessions.
\nThe gospel tells us the man entrusted his possessions to them.
\nThat’s a lot of trust to place in these servants,
\nand that trust comes with two expectations.<\/p>\n
The first expectation is that he is coming back, he will return.
\nAnd the second expectation
\nis that expects his capital to be greater than it was when he left.
\nWhile he’s gone, he expects his money to be growing.<\/p>\n
By placing this reading towards the end of the liturgical year,
\nthe Church reminds us that Jesus is the man who has gone on the journey.
\nJesus has ascended into heaven,
\nand someday he is coming back.<\/p>\n
And if Jesus is the man who has gone on the journey,
\nthen we are the servants
\nto whom he has entrusted an enormous treasure.<\/p>\n
What is this treasure?
\nWe have been entrusted with life, existence, our very being.
\nWe\u2019ve also been entrusted with freedom, intellect, imagination,
\ncompassion, creativity, speech,
\nall the qualities that make up human life.<\/p>\n
These are tremendous gifts,
\ninvaluable possessions.<\/p>\n
They enable us to run businesses, to cure diseases, to write novels,
\nto score touchdowns, to perform concerts, to put a man on the moon.<\/p>\n
And as valuable and precious as those gifts are,
\nwe\u2019ve been entrusted with even more.
\nThrough our baptism God has entrusted us with faith, with the Good News,
\nand with the gifts of the Holy Spirit:
\nwisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude,
\nknowledge, piety, fear of the Lord.<\/p>\n
Each of us, at our baptisms, received these gifts,
\ngifts which were strengthened at confirmation.<\/p>\n
They enable us to know God more intimately,
\nto spread the Good News, to comfort the sorrowing.
\nThey give us strength to care for the poor,
\nunderstanding to hand on the faith.<\/p>\n
The gifts we have from God enable us to do all these things and more,
\nbut only if we do the work.
\nWe always have the freedom to not do them.
\nWe can choose to be like the third servant who buries the money,
\nor we can be like the industrious servants.
\nWe can be like a worthy wife.<\/p>\n
This is where today\u2019s first reading from Proverbs
\ncomplements and sheds light on the gospel;
\nand through the gospel we come to better understand the first reading.<\/p>\n
In the gospel
\nthe master entrusts his possessions to his servants,
\nand in the first reading,
\nthe husband entrusts his heart to his wife.<\/p>\n
Jesus is the master in the parable,
\nentrusting invaluable gifts to us his servants.
\nHe is also the Bridegroom, entrusting his heart to us, his Bride.
\nJesus has entrusted his Sacred Heart, his most valuable possession, to us.
\nThe Holy Spirit dwells in each one of us.
\nToday\u2019s readings challenge us not to follow the example
\nof the lazy servant, entrusted with his master\u2019s money,
\nbut rather to imitate the worthy wife,
\nentrusted with her husband\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n
When we the Church, the Bride of Christ,
\nimitate the worthy wife our value \u201cis far beyond pearls.\u201d
\nWe bring the Lord \u201cgood and not evil all the days of our life.\u201d
\nWe “work with loving hands.\u201d
\nWe \u201creach out our hands to the poor,
\nand extend our arms to the needy.\u201d
\nThis is what it means to be a worthy spouse to Christ.<\/p>\n
Like the first two servants in the gospel,
\nthe worthy wife gets down to business and works.
\nShe cares for her family, she cares for her neighbors.<\/p>\n
If we look around this church
\nwe see a multitude of worthy wives here among us.
\nWives, your value is far beyond pearls.
\nYou do deserve a reward for your labors.
\nI hope that some time this weekend,
\nyour husband or your children or your grandchildren do something good for you
\nto show you how much you are appreciated.<\/p>\n
You are examples to us
\nof how to use the gifts we have been given by God.<\/p>\n
We husbands entrust our hearts to you,
\nand you don\u2019t bury them, you don\u2019t ignore them.
\nNo, you hold our hearts close to your own,
\nyou do the hard work of partnering with us in raising children,
\nin bringing in money to support the family,
\nin supporting us emotionally when things get difficult.<\/p>\n
In other words, a worthy wife does the very opposite
\nof the third servant in the gospel.<\/p>\n
The lazy servant is paralyzed by his fear.
\nHe can\u2019t move, or he won\u2019t move.
\nHe doesn\u2019t do the hard work of trying to increase what he\u2019s been given.
\nHe doesn\u2019t do anything.<\/p>\n
The problem with the third servant
\nisn\u2019t that he steals the master\u2019s possessions, or embezzles his money,
\nit’s that he buries it and leaves it alone.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not that he misuses the money, but that he ignores it.
\nIt makes you wonder,
\nWhat was he doing all that time that the master was gone,
\ninstead of working?<\/p>\n
Watching TV? Checking social media
\nor playing games on his smartphone?
\nThese are some of the temptations we face that would keep us
\nfrom using and developing what we have been given.<\/p>\n
As the church year draws to a close in the next two weeks,
\nthis is a good time to look back over the last year
\nand celebrate the times
\nthat we increased the gifts our God has given us.<\/p>\n
Every time we brought food to the hungry,
\nthe gift of compassion increased in us.
\nWhen we listened to someone with a different point of view than ours,
\ninstead of shutting them out,
\nwe grew in the gift of understanding.
\nWhen we put our smartphones or tablets down
\nto play card games with the kids,
\nor read them a story, or ask them about their day,
\nwe developed the gift of relationships.
\nWhen we took adult education classes here at the parish,
\nor even listened to a spiritual podcast,
\nwe grew in wisdom and knowledge.
\nEvery time we took out the Bible and read from it,
\nwe used our gifts of intelligence, reflection, and imagination
\nto grow in our relationship with the God who loves us.
\nIt\u2019s time celebrate that.<\/p>\n
This time of year is also a good time to reflect
\non how we could have done better
\nat increasing the invaluable treasure entrusted to us by God.
\nWhere were the missed opportunities?
\nWhat were the things that took us away from doing the work of God?
\nHave we buried the Bible under a pile of papers
\nthe way the third servant buried the master\u2019s money?
\nWhat else have we buried this past year?
\nCompassion? Generosity? Prayer?<\/p>\n
It may not have even been intentional.
\nWe may have just cruised through the last year on autopilot,
\nmoving unconsciously from day to day.
\nIt can happen so easily.<\/p>\n
But we are here today,
\nand St. Paul reminds us not to sleep like the rest do,
\nbut to stay sober and alert,
\nnot sleepwalk through life
\nwhile the gifts of God lay buried.<\/p>\n
In a little while we will come forward in communion
\nand receive God\u2019s greatest possession: His Son.
\nGod entrusts us with his Son, his heart,
\nthe way a husband and wife entrust their hearts to each other.<\/p>\n
We the Church,
\nwe the Bride of Christ,
\nwill receive the Body and Blood of Christ
\nwith the expectation that we are not to bury it,
\nbut rather increase it in our lives,
\nand in the lives those around us;
\nto use that gift
\nto bring the Lord good and not evil,
\nto work with loving hands,
\nto reach out to the poor,
\nand extend our arms to the needy,
\nin the expectation that one day,
\nJesus will return,
\nand that we will receive a reward for our labors
\nthat goes far beyond anything we can imagine.<\/p>\n