Introduction to the Liturgy of the Day

Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word

Reflections

• The woman in the first reading is called a worthy wife, and surely she is, as the author testifies that she brings her husband goodness her whole life. She also uses her talents and her skills to serve her family, as she procures material and works the loom and spindle to weave “with loving hands” (Proverbs 31:13). But that’s not all. She even uses her gifts to help those who are poor and needy. The writer then reveals that she fears the LORD. This is her secret. Her reverence for God has led her to serve her husband and her family, the needy and—we find out in the last sentence—the whole city. Indeed, her value is far beyond pearls, for through her generosity she has touched multitudes.


• When we share our talents, whether we realize it or not we are revealing God’s presence and proclaiming God’s generosity as strongly as if we were shouting it from the rooftops. Perhaps this is what Jesus is driving at in his parable: not that God wants us to double our money by investing wisely, but that God wants us to share our gifts, to use our talents, to build up the kingdom of God, to spread the Good News to every nook and cranny of our world. Notice his final words to the two servants he found worthy: “Come, share your master’s joy” (Matthew 25:21, 23). Sharing our God-given talents leads to sharing in God’s joy.

• “There are no small parts, only small actors,” Russian director Konstantin Stanislavski famously said, insisting that even actors with seemingly insignificant roles put everything they have into the part. Both the servant who was given only two talents and the one who got but one seemed to have only bit roles on the day that the master gave out talents. But one made the most of his, making the most of what he was given. Trusted with a small amount, he can look forward to being entrusted with more and greater things. Already he is invited to share his master’s joy. Though given not even half as much as the first servant, he has also been proven worthy as a good and faithful servant. So too do we strive to be proven good and faithful. No matter how little we have been given, we are called to use it in service of something or someone greater than us.
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Question of the Week

How do I share my gifts? What talent have I been told I have but am afraid to share out in the open?

-from Pastoral Patterns

LISTEN HERE to the Audio Recordings of the Readings of Sunday, November 19, 2023

SELECT HERE for the Readings of Sunday, November 19, 2023

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