October 21 - Homily for Today

Our gospel passage today tells us that each person, is a best, an “administrator.” When we are born, we receive the exact share of genes and capabilities needed to fulfill ourselves in life. And we discover that these capabilities, and our very life, are just a gift from God, insofar as we have not done anything to deserve them. They are the personal, unique and nontransferable gift, which bestows our personality on us. They are the “talents” that Jesus speaks about in another place, and we should make them grow during our life time. Capabilities for our complete self-realization, but with the additional possibility to communicate and share these values with one another.

Jesus ends the first paragraph by saying “For the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.” It is our hope that the Lord Jesus will come at the end of time; but, now and here, Jesus also appears in our lives, in the simplicity and in the complexity of every moment. It is now then, with the Lord’s strength, we can live his Kingdom. St. Augustine reminds us in the words of Psalm 33 “Happy the nation whose God is the Lord, the people chosen as his very own,” so that we can be fully aware of it while belonging to this kinship.

“You must also be ready”, this exhortation implies a call to fidelity and not selfishness. It is our responsibility to know “how to react” to the goods we have received with our life. “Knowing his master’s will”, is what we identify as our “conscience”, and it is what makes us responsible for our actions. It is a matter of justice and love on our side, to generously respond to Mankind, and towards each one of its living beings, our brothers and sisters.

                                                                       “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.”