33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the Church moves us toward reflecting on the end times and great questions of life and death. We might well ask ourselves what we would like to be remembered for once we have passed to eternal life. Our Scripture Readings today offer some good ideas in terms of what we should want as our legacy. The First Reading, from the Book of Proverbs, tells of the ideal woman, gifted not just with physical attributes, but with gifts of ingenuity, hard work, generosity and love of others. She is presented as a model of what is possible when someone uses their God-given gifts and skills well. The point of the Reading lies not in the fact that she is gifted, but in what she chooses to do with those gifts and skills.

The Gospel takes up this theme in the parable of the three servants entrusted with their master’s talents. In this case, a talent was a weight of precious metal such as gold or silver. To be entrusted with five, or two, or even one talent meant that you were entrusted with something of great value. As we heard the Gospel proclaimed, we might have found ourselves on the side of the servant who simply buried the talent that had been entrusted to him and then returned it to the master. After all, in financial matters, caution is sometimes best. Yet, as with many of the parables of Jesus, the Lord ultimately turns the story upside down. In this parable, the servant who buried the talent ends up losing everything, including what had been entrusted to him. All is taken away and given to the other servants, for those who take risks in faith can be given greater responsibilities and ultimately be invited to share in the Master’s joy.

Now is the time to use all that God has placed at our disposal. Now is the time to use our gifts, talents, our sense of hope and our commitment to charity for the sake of the Gospel. This is the sacred task entrusted to each Christian by virtue of Baptism – to invest ourselves totally in the work of the Kingdom of God and to bring others to Christ. Now that would be something to be remembered for!