Word to the Wise
Wednesday, November 17, 2021 - Wednesday in the 33th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Macc 7:1, 20-31 and Luke 19:11-28]"A nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins and told them, 'Engage in trade with these until I return.' [Luke]
NOVEMBER 17 ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY
A popular expression in our society may help to explain the parable in today's gospel scripture: "Use it or lose it." The context for the parable is given in the text. People were wondering about the appearance of the "kingdom" which Jesus was preaching. The audience for the gospel itself was a missionary Christian community. In the parable, the coins are the message of the Kingdom of God. When the "rejected king" returns, the servants are held to account with what they had been given. The one who hoarded the coins loses everything.
I have mentioned here before the pastor who placed a sign at the entrance to the church parking lot which is pointed inward: "WARNING! YOU ARE ENTERING MISSION TERRITORY. We cannot "hoard" the message that Jesus has given to us. Pope Francis has warned us all about a church that is "self-referential" and concentrated only on its own ways. In his inaugural document, Evangelii gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) he calls on all the baptized to become "missionary disciples." The best enablers of secularism are timid Christians. At the present moment, the second largest Christian denomination in the USA, after the Catholic Church, would be the "church" of former/lapsed Catholics!! Many of the latter have left because the message of the Kingdom is poorly preached and too many messengers are simply promoting a "museum Catholicism," focused on internal matters.
The "coin of the Kingdom" is in our hands. The "king" is expecting big returns. We have to "use it or lose it." AMEN