Playing the market - Sunday's reading reflection

What can economics and productivity teach us about the kingdom of heaven? Jesus' story about a businessman who leaves town and entrusts his money with his workers made perfect sense to his audience. Wealthy merchants and businessmen often had to travel abroad and leave the business to others to handle while they were gone. Why did Jesus tell this story and what can it teach us? 

Most importantly it tells us something about how God deals with us, his disciples and servants. The parable speaks first of the Master's trust in his servants. While he goes away he leaves them with his money to use as they think best. While there were no strings attached, this was obviously a test to see if the Master's workers would be industrious and reliable in their use of the money entrusted to them. The master rewards those who are industrious and faithful and he punishes those who sit by idly and who do nothing with his money. 

The essence of the parable seems to lie in the servants' conception of responsibility. Each servant entrusted with the master's money was faithful up to a certain point. The servant who buried the master's money was irresponsible. One can bury seeds in the ground and expect them to become productive because they obey natural laws. Coins, however, do not obey natural laws. They obey economic laws and become productive in circulation. The master expected his servants to be productive in the use of his money. 

What do coins and the law of economics have to do with the kingdom of God? The Lord entrusts the subjects of his kingdom with gifts and graces and he gives his subjects the freedom to use them as they think best. With each gift and talent, God gives sufficient the means (grace and wisdom) for using them in a fitting way. As the parable of the talents shows, God abhors indifference and an attitude that says it's not worth trying. God honors those who use their talents and gifts for doing good. Those who are faithful with even a little are entrusted with more! But those who neglect or squander what God has entrusted to them will lose what they have. 

There is an important lesson here for us. No one can stand still for long in the Christian life. We either get more or we lose what we have. But like any economic system, the constant flux reminds us that even if we made a poor investment or no investment at all and find ourselves in a recession or a bursted financial bubble, there are always opportunities to reinvest and to make good on losses. What "stocks" (opportunities for grace) will you invest in?

Faith that God will always be there when we fall - Tomorrow's reading reflection

"he guards the lives of his faithful ones"

It seems my faith (my oil) requires constant replenishing.  I worry, will I have enough?  Yet nowhere have I ever heard God say, I’m only going to give you this much faith, so you’d better hoard it.  It seems the supply of faith available to us is inexhaustible.  So why the fear?  Faith is definitely a choice.  It seems both incredibly powerful, but also fragile.  Worry seems to often squeeze the faith and hope out of my life.  Worry seems to rob us of our faith.  When we worry, we lose our joy and it affects our ability to serve God.  When we simply trust God and put God first in our lives, then we glorify him and our joy can return.

My granddaughter, Annie, is learning to walk.  We sit on the kitchen floor and I aim her at her mom or dad and let go of her hands.  She stumbles across the floor and launches herself into her mom or dad’s arms.  If they were not there to catch her she would definitely land face first on the floor.  And yet she does it again and again and every time she looks back at me, grinning with such pride and joy.  There isn't any thought in her head about, “what if they didn’t catch me?”  She simply trusts completely.

How I wish I had Annie’s faith and trust.  It is so easy to fall into the worry trap and lose our joy.

My prayer today is for those of us who stumble with our faith and trust.  Instead of expecting the worst, we should be preparing for the best.

(Adapted from Daniel O'Reilly)

ABC's 'Mistresses' accused of glamorizing adultery - Tomorrow's reading reflection

“The head of John the Baptist.”

In something that reads like the “Mistresses,” we are presented with a convoluted set of facts about two principal characters.  

Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great, who apparently had at least 4 wives.  Antipas was married to Phasaelis, whom he divorced to marry Herodias. Herodias was the granddaughter of Herod the Great, and the wife of Antipas’ half brother, Herod II (who was thus her brother-in-law and also her half-uncle). Herodias and Herod II had a daughter, Salome, making her Herod Antipas’ half niece (and his stepdaughter once he married Herodias).  

Herodias decided to divorce Herod II to marry Antipas, who was then tetrarch of Galilee.  John the Baptist chastised Antipas for his divorce and subsequent marriage to his former sister-in-law. Reading between the lines, John has apparently irritated everyone by his condemnation of the marriage, but most especially Herodias.  Antipas seems to be easily manipulated by Herodias, and Mark stated that he both feared John and was perplexed by his teachings.  Antipas also seems to have been aroused by Salome’s dance and thus had even more moral ambiguity going on in his head.

Sexuality, seems to be one of the most terribly powerful motivations of human behavior that ever was, is and will be.  As the Bible and real life show us over and over again, disordered sexuality has brought down kings, governors and ordinary disciples of God.  Yet it is with compassion that we treat ourselves and others who may be weak in faith and sexual morality.  Remember that John acted as prophet but so does Paul when he speaks to the Thessalonians in today's reading.  Seeing their weakness, he first affirms their strengths.  "What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you, for all the joy we feel on your account before our God? Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith."  

Not a bad example.

(Adapted from Tom Purcell)

Oh proud Christians, the tombs or icons we can choose to be - Tomorrow's reading reflections

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth."

It's never good to hear that from the lips of God.  But as St. Augustine found out, every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.  A whitewashed tomb today might not be so a year from now.  In fact, he/she may not be a tomb at all but a living icon of St. Augustine and every sinner who has walked the road of redemption.

Dear You, From St. Augustine - Tomorrow's reading reflection

If you ever feel like you can't seem to many any progress in the spiritual life; if you feel like doubt in your faith and in God are stronger than truth at times; if you feel like sin dominates your life and there's no hope, then listen to what St. Augustine wrote in his book The Confessions.

O Hope from my youth,
where wast thou to me
and where hadst thou gone away?
For hadst thou not created me
and differentiated me from the
beasts of the field and the birds of
the air, making me wiser than they?

And yet I was wandering about in a
dark and slippery way, seeking thee
outside myself and thus not finding
the God of my heart.  I had gone down
into the depths of the sea and had
lost faith,
and had despaired of ever
finding the truth.

One only knows what he means if they themselves have been in the same place.  It's an experiential knowledge that comes through suffering. Maybe you have been where he was.  Maybe you are.  Maybe you will.  But remember this.  That was only one point along the remarkable timeline that was his life. Listen to what he went on to become after being baptized and ordained a bishop.

The great St. Augustine's life is unfolded to us in documents of unrivaled richness, and of no great character of ancient times have we information comparable to that contained in the Confessions. (NewAdvent.com)  

St. Augustine was early recognized as the first of the Western Fathers.  There are only four.

St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is "a philosophical and theological genius of the first order, dominating, like a pyramid, antiquity and the succeeding ages. Compared with the great philosophers of past centuries and modern times, he is the equal of them all; among theologians he is undeniably the first, and such has been his influence that none of the Fathers, Scholastics, or Reformers has surpassed it." (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church)(NewAdvent.com)

He is the first and only to be named a Doctor of Grace; but he is also officially named the Doctor of the Church.

And there was a time when he said, "I had gone down into the depths of the sea and had lost faith, and had despaired of ever finding the truth."  

Take hope.  St. Augustine, whose feast we celebrate today, shows us there's plenty of it to go around.