Dependence on God

Today's Reflections 
          

 

                 

                                                          

Dependence on God 

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Lk 12:32-48

[Jesus said to his disciples,] ³²“Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

³⁵“Gird your loins and light your lamps ³⁶and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. ³⁷Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. ³⁸And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. ³⁹Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

⁴¹Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” ⁴²And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute [the] food allowance at the proper time? ⁴³Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. ⁴⁴Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. ⁴⁵But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, ⁴⁶then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. ⁴⁷That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; ⁴⁸and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

Reflection:

The faithful and prudent steward. We are stewards of the talents God has given us. Each one of us has a charism or gift from the Holy Spirit for the service of the community (cf 1 Cor 12:1-11). The Second Plenary Council of the Philippines says beautifully, “No one is so poor as to have nothing to give.” We should make an inventory of these gifts God has given us. Having known our gifts, we have to develop them and then put them to good use not only for our own good but for the good of others.

Look at how wisely many people have made use of their gifts. Take Efren Peñaflorida, a CNN Hero of the Year 2009. He was not a very spectacularly gifted person, but what talent of mind and heart he had, he put into good use to help educate poor children.

Henrietta Tambunting de Villa put into good use her keen mind, her golden heart, her gift for organization, and her gracious speech. Though she finished only one year of college, she rose to become the national president of the Mother Butler Guild, one of the founders of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, the chief organizer of the 10th World Youth Day and the papal visit in 1995, and our Ambassador to the Holy See.

Maximize your charism,

for the service of others and for God’s glory.