"I Have Set Before You Life And Death"
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Saturday, November 15, 2008
The Optimistic Investor
In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus likens the Kingdom of God to a man who entrusts his servants with a huge amount of money, and expects a return on his investment. My homily for this weekend is posted here.
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2 comments:
hi Fr. C!
very inspiring homily which you title "optimistic investor." you give some really great examples on what God expects of us. it's true that God doesn't just invite us to invest our lives in Him, but that He "commands us to," as you mention in your homily. it's important to remember, too, that, as you also mention in your homily, that "God invests us each according to our ability and circumstance in life." i'm reminded of St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians: "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men." ~1 Corinthians 12:4-6~ i feel that this passage from Sacred Scripture helps us understand that we're all called to invest our lives in serving God, but each in very unique & individual ways (according to our abilities.) we could consider, too, some of our great saints, particularly St. Therese of Lisieux, who's a good example of what it means to invest our life in God. she didn't have to travel far at all, but was able to serve God by doing little things out of her love for Him for those around her. St. Therese's "little way" was just by having a real child-like simplicity and trust and love for God and i think she had a deep understanding of the mystery of the Cross. even the Gospel reading of this morning ends with a question asked of us: "However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?" ~Luke 18:8~ PEACE!
tara t
I have long thought that one of the best applications for this parable for modern Christians is the application to the teaching on contraception. Married love is a great a valuable gift that is given to the spouses by God, just lie the talents. And like the talents, Or Master comands us in married love to be fruitful and multiply. If we are good stewards of our gifts, our children willgrow in holiness and our investment will produce "returns" of holiness for many generations.
To bury the treasure in the ground so that it does yeild any fruit seems like a direct anology to the sin of Onan. And the story of Onan is the most powerful scriptural condemnation of contraception.
One of the things that I have always struggled with aconcerning this parable is the appearant tension between the demand of the Master for an investment yeild and the traditional teaching against usury, which is condemned in Leviticus.
Do you know and any sources that speak to this tension specifically?
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