33rd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

"Since you were dependable in a small matter I will put you in charge of larger affairs. Come, share your master's joy!"

Lectionary Readings for 33rd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/33rd-sunday-a.html

In life, when we are given a small task to perform, we often undervalue the task and see ourselves as greater than the task. But when it comes to performing the task in actuality from day to day, given all the drudgery involved and the requirements of making improvements on the task so that its operations will be better or the results of the task will provide more production or profits, we finally realize that it takes a lot of industriousness, reliability on our part and lots and lots of hard work. When we are successful, we are 'upgraded' or promoted or given a nice title, a reward or more tasks at a higher level of responsibility plus added perks or benefits.

The gospel today speaks about these small tasks that we are given to be responsible for-- given our talents and capabilities. We may be a small business owner who was given a loan to start a small enterprise; or we may be a school teacher given a class of 30 young pupils; or we may be a religious superior given the task of formation of 10 young novices; or we may be a parish priest that need to minister to a small parish of 500 families; or we may be a young accountant of a small corporation given the task to record accurately all the accounts of the company; or we may be a small schooltown coach needing to encourage a team of young teenagers lacking confidence; or we may be a simple father or mother given the blessing of a baby boy or girl to nourish and nurture till he reaches walking stage; and many much more gifts and blessings we are given in order to "produce and to bear fruit" by our industriousness, sense of responsibility, perseverance, and other talents and giftedness that are uniquely gifted to us by God.

This gospel tells us that progressing in life; that being productive and fruitful in our endeavors; that being capable to enlargen our estates; always starts from the faithful attendance to small matters. We do not raise our stature in society by big steps. Usually, it is through small honest and trustworthy acts and responsibilities fulfilled. If we use our talents, our giftedness and our resources as best as we can, all our hard work will always pay off and those who have positions over us can promote us or those who have a higher stature in society will invite us to join his or her social circle. But the moral and message of the story is that we have to be faithful in small matters well first. Even though these small matters may be boring or routinary, but if we can be able to progress our work and endeavors, then we can take on larger matters and responsibilities. And the Lord knows and sees what we do and how we employ all the giftedness He has given us and the resources He has provided us with.

Let us therefore pray for ourselves that we may appreciate the little things that we do and always realize that they count a lot if we do them faithfully. Because if by our doing them, it influences others to goodness and fidelity and inspires them to work harder and to follow our industriousness, success in our hard work, and progress in our stature, then we will lead others to value the importance of making well our use of our talents, our resources and our life for the sake of Christ. Let us also pray for others who do not see this importance in their life and drudgingly go about working without the desire to progress or improve on one's life even if they are given small matters to take care of. Let us follow the humble and simple example of Jesus, who before He was rewarded the Resurrection through the power of the Holy Spirit, had to be born a helpless infant in a manger, live simply and quietly in Nazareth, preach and teach to a group of people, gather a large crowd and produce the miracle of the loaves, confront the powers of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and obeyed the Father's will by taking up the Cross and giving His life to ransom us from sin. Like Jesus, who had to be faithful first in small matters as a growing child in the quiet life of Nazareth and was soon elevated to the status of a public Rabbi and Teacher and Master of His apostles, we too in our small and simple ways may follow Him and soon accept the responsibilities of a higher level so that we may serve the Lord more in our life.

32nd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

"...keep your eyes open, for you know not the day or the hour."

Lectionary Readings for 32nd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
http://www.pcentral-online.net/catholic/lectionary/32nd-sunday-a.html

As the liturgical year is to end, we are told that the gospels will speak mainly and mostly of the end times - about the day of the coming of the Son of Man or the day of the Lord. Jesus often speaks about the realities of the kingdom of God and of judgment in terms also of parables. This Sunday, He speaks about the 10 virgins who were to attend the wedding feast: 5 were foolish and 5 were wise. The wise virgins thought about the future and did something in order to prepare for it while the five foolish ones did not think of the future. And so, when the time came for the wedding feast to begin, the foolish virgins realized that their not preparing for the unexpected and for the sudden coming of the bridegroom was not wise.

This parable Jesus teaches to his disciples also speaks to us about preparing for the end times and for our own personal end. Although Jesus really meant the end times in which everything will be gone and His kingdom will be at hand and there will be judgment of the good and the righteous together with the bad and the evil, we can also reflect about our own personal ends. What are we doing now that will prepare for our own end in this world? And what am I doing to help others also prepare for their own finitude and end? As we carefully examine our life and how we are in relationship with God, with others, with nature and all of God's creation, we need to learn if we are indeed ready to "face God" and receive our judgment.

As we reflect our personal end, we can also reflect on the end of the world and of all time. This will surely come to pass since it was revealed to us in the Scriptures. However, Scripture tells us that even if the world and all in it shall end, the Word of God shall remain steadfast forever. And the person and reality of Christ our Lord shall always be the same yesterday, today and forever. Let us not be anxious if we sometimes feel that the world is to end because of the signs we are seeing now in our times: conflicts, wars, disasters, moral degeneration, and a general decline in many of our established and traditional values and norms. The best thing to do is to always be prepared: to be always vigilant and putting ourselves in the hands of God. A spiritual life of continuous reflection, prayer and meditation will give us the gift of wisdom to see that if we have faith in God, hope in His mercy and salvation and be repentant of our sinfulness, and be more of service to others and charitable in our ways, then when judgment day comes, we will be like the five wise virgins who prepared for our future before the Lord.

31st Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

"The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest."

Lectionary Readings for 31st Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A
http://catholic.pcentral-online.net/lectionary/31st-sunday-a.html

Jesus our Lord made this statement in the context of how he viewed the leadership of the religious leaders of His time: the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. He wanted to teach the people that leadership consists in service and that humility must reign over pride when leaders exercise their authority over others. This Jesus did not see in the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in His time. And so He wanted to teach the people to listen only to what these religious leaders teach and not follow their example: for they do not do what they preach and teach.

Jesus was a very credible and authentic leader. When He taught this to the people of His time - especially to His apostles and disciples, He proved this teaching when the time came for giving His life to the Father. On the night before He was to die, He gathered the apostles together in a meal and celebrated the Last Supper. This Last Supper account was portrayed in the same manner in the gospel of Mark, Luke and Matthew. But in the gospel of John, there is a unique way of portraying the Last Supper: with a special focus on the washing of the feet [not present in the three other gospels]. Here, we can truly see that Jesus lived what He taught and did what He preached. He is God, but He became man just like us and took the form of a slave. He was the Master and Teacher for His apostles, but He took a towel and a basin and washed His apostles feet. This was to truly teach and lead by example that servant-leadership was what Jesus stood for.

Though we may not be in high positions of leadership, we exercise leadership nonetheless in our own ways. When we exercise leadership, let us not be tempted like the Pharisees and always look to ourselves as the authority and the source of strength. Rather, let us follow the humble example of our Lord, who took it upon Himself to be a servant to all that He may teach with impact and credibility what is really essential in Christian leadership: service, humility and leading by example.