I am a big fan of Relevant Radio. For those who do not know RR, it is a Catholic talk radio station based in Green Bay, Wisconsin in the USA. Its signals now cover much of the United States and it also broadcasts all over the world via the Relevant Radio App. If you have a Relevant Radio AM station near you, it is worth a listen. If no station, download the app. It is so refreshing to hear sound Catholic teaching and discussion in the middle of what is often radio wasteland.
One of my favorite shows on RR is the Patrick Madrid show. Patrick is a Catholic Apologist. I had often wondered what he had to apologize for until I found out that an apologist is someone who defends a belief. In this case explaining the tenets of Catholicism to help us do a better job in defending the faith to people who either don’t understand our faith or are openly hostile to it.
One of the callers recently on Patrick’s show called in because a relative of the caller was getting married. The woman getting married was Catholic but was not getting married in a church as The Church encourages. She was trying to decide if she should go to the wedding. She wanted to be supportive but also wanted to make the bride aware that she was breaking with Catholic teaching of having the covenant that they were proclaiming to each other be done in the holiest place possible. In the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
The interesting part of the conversation was when Patrick explained that if the couple were not Catholic, there would be no issue at all. She would be free to attend the wedding no matter where it was being held. In a sense, the Catholic couple were being held to a higher standard than would another couple of another faith or of no faith at all. Their awareness of the presence of the Lord in the tabernacle gave them a greater responsibility in making the decision of where to wed that was not expected of someone who did not have the understanding of the real presence.
This phone conversation on the radio came to mind when reading today’s Gospel passage. When I had first read this parable in the past I was like, “Whoa…this servant was just trying to protect the master’s investment and not feel his wrath. What if he invested and lost the money entrusted to him? See how joyful the master would be then!!”
But then as I looked into various discussions on this reading I realized the issue here was what each servant did with what the master entrusted to each of them. Why were they given different amounts? I mean aren’t all people created equally? But apparently each servant had a different set of skills and was given an amount to care for based on those skills. And each was asked to live up to those expectations. The servant with one talent was not asked to generate 5 more. Nor was the servant with 2 talents going to show the same performance. But they were expected to make use fully of the skills they were given. To USE them. We are to let our light shine for all to see, and not hide it under a bushel basket.
Evan among the apostles there were differences in expectations. Not all were asked to lead the church as its first Pope. Not all were taken to Mt. Tabor for the Transfiguration. Clearly Jesus recognized strengths and weaknesses in the apostles and His other disciples. These strengths caused Jesus to ask more of each of them. Don’t employees of a business who show certain aptitude get assigned the more difficult projects and bear greater responsibilities? All to move the organization and its goals forward.
In today’s first reading St. Paul is addressing the faithful on Thessalonica. In today’s portion of this chapter Paul is talking to the Thessalonians about charity. He stresses that they are to be charitable to everyone, not just those in their inner circle. In earlier verses from this chapter St. Paul warns them about sexual impurity, contrasting how they should live compared to others who became fully immersed in the immorality that had become the Roman Empire. In other words, they are being held to a higher standard now that they know Christ and what he expects of them. They are being asked to be IN the world but not OF the world.
And aren’t we being asked to do the same thing today? We are asked to love everyone we meet. To show sacrificial love to all. Not just those people we know or who feel as we do. We are to use the talents we have, whether we are good writers or speakers or have hobbies that bring us in contact with people who do not know Christ, and be the spark to open their minds to the power of the Gospel. And if we fully use the talents God has given us then we can “share in our Master’s Joy”.
