Mass Readings
Reading 1 – Proverbs 31:10-13,19-20,30-31
Psalm – Ps 127:1-5
Reading 2 – St Paul to Thes 5:1-6
Gospel – Matthew 25:14-30
Reflection
by Fr Shymon Thekkekalathungal
Somebody once said: “Einstein had a Great Mind; Newton, a Brilliant Mind; Bill Gates, an Extraordinary Mind; But our politician, Never Mind!”
Do you mind the talents that has been given to you by God? Or Are you grieving for your misfortunes in your life due to your misunderstanding about your talents? Christ’s parable of the talents (Mt 25:14-30) in this weekend’s gospel gives us a glimpse of Joy that none of us has been left without any talent in our life. We are all gifted with different talents which varies according to the purpose of God. Some of us are gifted with more talents and some others are gifted with less talents. Despite of it, everybody gets sufficient qualities to work with. Because it is not the quantity but the quality matters. What God demands is that a person should use to the full the ability that has been given to them, rather do not be wasted without using it like the third servant in the parable.
All of us who read this may have received at least one talent. It might be the gift of faith which is very significant in our lives, especially during this unprecedented time. When we analyse our faith life during this lockdown, we can understand that although there were tremendous possibilities for losing our faith, we have managed it miraculously and regained our spiritual energy. It is because we have been blessed with the gift of faith. It flourished our own personal faith in God more than we had it before the pandemic. So that we tried our best to find out different means to reach out to our fellow believers and vulnerable people through the local and international church. Even with all the COVID-19 restrictions we allowed the gift of faith to grow in a good manner in our parish with the help of our dedicated volunteers. Our new website, care call programmes, live stream mass and other sacramental attempts are an example for that.
Now it is not the end of our work. We don’t stop our faith journey anywhere. We have to continue until we have been told like in the gospel that “Well done, good and trustworthy servant; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master” (verses 21, 23). Until then, let us continue to live accordingly and use our talents wisely for the sake of the kingdom of God.