THIRTY THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY – 18^th/19^th NOVEMBER 2023

Dear Parishioners,

Sometimes, when we listen to the news and the realities in the world, it can all seem rather negative, depressing and overwhelming.  We feel unable to respond in front of many of those situations and they can even spark fear in us.  Yet, God’s invitation to us in today’s Gospel is to take a risk and use our gifts for His Kingdom fearlessly.

The response for the Psalm for this Sunday says “Blessed are those who fear the Lord”.  What does it mean to fear the Lord?  Does it mean that we must live scared of the Lord, fearing punishment if we do something wrong, or step out of line?  I do not believe that.  In fact, the Psalm goes on to relate fearing the Lord with walking in His ways, saying that this is what is fruitful and what makes us blessed and favoured. 

The Gospel reading also picks up on this theme of what it means to live a life where we fear the Lord.  We see that the servant who was given just one talent, and responded to it with fear and was scared to do anything with it, was chastised for responding in that way.  Whereas the ones who were given more and took a risk in order to multiply what they were given were favoured and blessed for this action. 

What does this have to do with us, with our lives?  The Lord has blessed us all with distinctive and unique gifts, talents and resources, in proportion to our abilities, says the Gospel.  If our relationship with God is one of fear we might be scared to do anything because we worry we are going to get it wrong and then be punished for it.  However, when we understand that we have a God who is loving and merciful and who we can trust and that our blessedness and fruitfulness comes from walking in His ways, perhaps we might be more inclined to take the risk, to use our gifts and talents and resources for the service of others knowing that God values everything we do when trying to walk in His ways.  So, let us take some time this week to ask the Lord and listen to how He might be inviting us to take the risk (perhaps in my family, in my work, in my church, in the world) and to share my gifts and talents and thus multiply them in this way?  And I look forward to seeing some of those gifts and talents displayed at the international day this weekend😉.

Have a blessed week. Ann Marie, FMVD