Someone, before going abroad, summoned his servants to entrust his property to them

Gospel text (Matthew 25,14-30): Jesus told this parable to his disciples, «Imagine someone who, before going abroad, summoned his servants to entrust his property to them. He gave five talents of silver to one, then two to another, and one to a third, each one according to his ability; and he went away. He who received five talents went at once to do business with the money and gained another five. The one who received two did the same and gained another two. But the one with one talent dug a hole and hid his master's money.
»After a long time, the master of those servants returned and asked for a reckoning. The one who received five talents came with another five talents, saying: ‘Lord, you entrusted me with five talents, but see I have gained five more with them’. The master answered: ‘Very well, good and faithful servant, since you have been faithful in a few things, I will entrust you with much more. Come and share the joy of your master’. Then the one who had two talents came and said: ‘Lord, you entrusted me with two talents; I have two more which I gained with them’. The master said: ‘Well, good and faithful servant, since you have been faithful in little things, I will entrust you with much more. Come and share the joy of your master’.
»Finally, the one who had received one talent came and said: ‘Master, I know that you are an exacting man. You reap what you have not sown and gather what you have not invested. I was afraid, so I hid your money in the ground. Here, take what is yours’. But his master replied: ‘Wicked and worthless servant, you know that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not invested. Then you should have deposited my money in the bank, and you would have given it back to me with interest on my return. Therefore, take the talent from him, and give it to the one who has ten. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who are unproductive, even what they have will be taken from them. As for that useless servant, throw him out into the dark where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’».

Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples

Gospel text ( L uke 11,1-4): One day Jesus was praying in a certain place and when He had finished, one of his disciples said to him, «Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples». And Jesus said to them, «When you pray, say this: Father, hallowed be your name, may your kingdom come, give us each day the kind of bread we need, and forgive us our sins, for we also for-give all who do us wrong, and do not bring us to the test»

What is going wrong with the world?!

After the question which seems to come back at every generation, the clearest answer is perhaps… ‘Selfishness’ The point is very simple, when we put our own ego, our self, at the center of everything… Do we expect the rest of the world to bend backwards to satisfy us? We do have fundamental freedoms like opinion, religion, etc. Are those freedoms to be limited by the freedom of others? Are those freedoms to limit the freedom of others?

Money

Is money the ultimate goal, the end of all means? Nowadays, it seems, everything is not just measured in terms of money, but everything needs to be, has to be, in terms of money. Money is set as the goal, over anything. Money is meant to be just a media for exchange of goods and services, not a goal on itself, yet our society has corrupted onto making of money a statement beyond life, family, marriage and most definitively above love and truth. Such a philosophy has degraded our souls to the point of denying everything that is in conflict with the value of money. Even when charity is concerned, it seems mercy can only be measured in monetary terms, as if charity could be measured by anyone except God alone. If there is crusade or cause to be enrolled, the only acceptable way has been institutionalized as the amount of money it can be contributed, regardless of the individual efforts that could be applied or spent.

Cesar Fernandez-Stoll

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