Homily from the Parish Priest for the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings for Year A: Proverbs 31:10-31; I Thessalonians 5:1-6; Matthew 25:14-30
Taking risks. Part and parcel of life. Taking on an employee; a partner in marriage; a career choice – however clearly we’ve discerned, however much we’re sure it’s right, there’s always an element of risk. And at this time especially I know so many have difficult choices to make: do I risk visiting elderly relatives (the answer at this time at least is to aim to avoid that), but do I choose to bubble with a particular group to avoid isolation, loneliness? Will it turn out? There’s always the element of the unknown. And in the midst of all this there’s a spectrum between fear and anxiety we are too cautious on the one side and at the other extreme recklessness. One virtue which will come into play is prudence, another courage, and between the two we discern our way through life. At this current time though I recognise there is so much extraordinary courage being displayed. If you’re in the health service you’ll certainly know all about that, about taking risks for the good of others. Our army of volunteers working with the homeless speak to me of great courage too at this time, taking a leap out of our isolation to serve the most needy. And reflecting on the experience of these strangest of times I hear the call to be more courageous while remaining prudent. This will involve putting ourselves on the line for Christian values as Pope Francis calls us to rebuild, to allow the Christian voice to be heard in society, standing up for the rights those who are on the margins and risk being forgotten, for the dignity of human life from its very beginning to its very end, for compassion for all people and proper stewardship of our common home as it is plundered by our lack of care for it. And in the midst of that to realise that along with every human being I am a sinner in a Church of great sinners and great saints that is in the process of much needed purification.
Jesus today in this Gospel is challenging us to be courageous, to open our hearts wider. To take something of a risk to invest our talent, the treasure entrusted to us to nurture, to grow, to use for God’s greater glory. In this strange world at this strange time when there is so much fear and uncertainty about just where we are going. We're being challenged to dig deep into our faith in a God who has a plan for our lives, who loves us so much he entrusts a treasure to us to use and use well. The God we know deep down does not abandon us but blesses us with gifts, gifts to use, each one of us. The demands of the Gospel are extreme; they are radical. They require us to put into practice Our Lord’s preferential option for the weakest in society – be they those who are poor, those who are excluded or disadvantaged because of their background. Or those who perceive they are treated unfairly on account of what they believe, with whom they associate. To be on the side of the Gospel is indeed to risk failure, embarrassment, despair, frustration, even losing our faith ourselves.
We certainly can't expect immediate payback. No - it's sometimes not at all easy to use our talent, to take that treasure we cherish so much and trade it in the market-place of our world. It's too much of a risky business because pay-back is most unlikely and not worth the embarrassment and energy. “Lord, I knew you were an exacting Master. I didn't want to make a fool of myself and your Kingdom. I knew it wouldn't work. It was far too much of a risk putting myself out but, Lord, I held onto the treasure, I held firm to my faith as a Christian and a good Catholic and now after all this time I give the treasure back to you."
How often, for all the risk-taking we enjoy ourselves or enjoy seeing others partake of do we take a risk with what really is most dear to us that is what we celebrate here: our Christian and our Catholic faith? Can we recommit ourselves to taking the big risk to going back to work to the shop floor of the Kingdom? Because if we're honest we all need to again and again as, whenever we get close to doing the will of God in rebuilding his Kingdom, the evil one will surely get in the way. He will encourage us to surrender our God-given faith, to drift away gradually, to believe that the Christian faith and or the Catholic Church is so unnecessary in today’s society, to admit my resignation to the Lord and give what we have been freely given back to him.
How will we use the talents given to us in our own worlds? How will I give myself to family, friends, neighbours, especially those who, perhaps like ourselves, are really struggling, frustratedly, to make sense of life at this time? Those who are truly alone and feeling more and more abandoned. Those who wonder if they will ever be able to live a normal life again. Those perhaps among them – among us – who just need a small friendly word including an invitation to join a livestreamed Mass or to pay a visit to your local church for private prayer. Those many who are just waiting to be invited back to faith after drifting away for no particular or perhaps for some very legitimate reason hurt by the Church. Those who are knocking on our virtual door, wondering about faith for the first time.
The Kingdom of God is where the Body, the community of faith is gathered, and I know I speak for so many when I express my yearning for the day when our scattered community is gathered together again in person, perhaps in the new normal as a hybrid of virtual new and old and physically present old and new. That body needs constantly to be brought back from the dying strains of the disciples we hear at this end-time of the liturgical year to the light of Christ shining again in our hearts at Advent and Christmas, the light which is not for us but for our world around us searching for light, searching for meaning, searching for community, searching to serve others especially the weakest, to appreciate the talents we have been given freely and to freely take them out of this place to others so they may multiply and build the Kingdom in our society. For all the wiles of the evil one who will try to stop us this human yearning for something more, something purer, something more just and true, is a deep yearning for God. A deep yearning to encounter him in the here and now, to see his human face as he charges us to bring that human face of God to our world.
St John Chrysostom has a wonderful way of expressing the challenge: 'It is [simply] not possible for the light of the Christian to be hid… Do not insult God.' What a treasure we have in our Church's liturgy and life at this time, in the people gathered here from all over to share in this journey from death to life, from darkness to light. The treasure is not to be stored and returned. Let the dead bury their treasure and die with it. How are we going to share the treasure we find here with our sisters and brothers this week? Dare we even risk it?
Fr Dominic Robinson SJ