Call to worship
Today’s readings call us to question how we use this time of our lives. Are we industrious, productive servants, resourceful with the riches entrusted to us by the Master? Are we joyful and unafraid as we await our Master’s return?
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To the point: Each servant in this gospel parable is given riches by the master with the expectation that the servant will increase what was given. Even one talent was a significant amount of riches. To bury it was to waste its potential. The servant who does so out of fear, wickedness or laziness is condemned by the master and loses even the little that he has. The wealth each of us has been given by our Master is a share in his very Life. Even a small amount is an incalculable richness. We will be judged by how we have chosen to allow this life to increase, to grow within us. To choose otherwise is to bury our very selves.
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Connecting the Gospel (Matthew 25: 14-30) to the first reading: Unlike the “wicked, lazy servant” in the gospel, this faithful and loving wife works diligently to bring good to others and is judged praiseworthy for increasing the quality of life within and around her.
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Connecting the Gospel to experience: When facing any kind of judgment, our first response is to be uncomfortable. Upon reflection, when our choices and behaviors have led to fuller life for ourselves and others, we know we have nothing to fear from judgment. Indeed, we can even look forward to it.
Centering prayers
The Gospel
(Matthew 25:14-30)
“A man going on a journey called in his servants
and entrusted his possessions to them.”
Father of the Universe,
you have entrusted this planet to us.
Now let us use all the talents
you have given us to bring it to its
fullness. No shirking.
No burying the talents.
Let each and every one us do our part
to bring healing, and sow beauty
in all creation and so share in your joy.
The First Reading
(Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31)
“She reaches out her hands to the poor
and extends her arms to the needy.”
Jesus, you have entrusted your heart to us.
Give us merciful hands to feed the hungry,
and extend our arms to embrace the poor and needy.
Let us spend our lives and gifts on others!
The Second Reading
(1 Thessalonians 5:1-6)
“For you yourselves know that the day of the Lord
will come like a thief in the night.”
Lord, banish our fear of you. Fear, as if you were
a thief in the night! Birth us into your day.
Children of the light, we watch and wait for you.
Copyright © 2020, Anne M. Osdieck
