Fr. JC Maximilian

Today’s Gospel reading is one that we have all heard quite often during our lives.  I probably could ask any number of you to get up here and give a homily on this parable; even off the cuff.  Most likely we would get something about not neglecting what God has given us, but making the most out of the talents and gifts that we all have from God.  After all, that was why the wicked, lazy servant was cast out.  Right?

First, I think it will be helpful to clarify what a “talent,” as used in the Gospel, really is.  In this parable we often think of a talent as being just that, a gift or skill that God has given us.  Or maybe, since the Master in the story talks about putting the talent that the lazy servant received into the bank to get interest, we realize that Jesus is speaking about money.  Unfortunately, since we do not use “talent” as a unit of money anymore, we often just substitute a unit we are familiar with for “talent.”  So we might hear that one servant received $5, the other $2, and the third $1.  Or because those amounts seem too low, we might multiply them by a hundred or maybe even a thousand.

That does not even come close.  A “talent” was approximately 15 YEARS worth of salary.  Yes, I said YEARS worth.  So, think about how much you make each year, and multiply that by 15, and you have one talent.  As a priest, I don’t make that much, but even by my salary, one talent would be an extremely large, generous gift.

Let’s get back to the parable; why did the one servant fail?  Of course, the Master suggests that it was because he was wicked and lazy, and undoubtedly there is truth in that, however I think there was another important reason for the servant’s failure.

He had a wrong idea of his master.  It seems that the servant was afraid of his Master.  The parable tells us that he saw his Master as a very demanding and scary person, even taking what did not belong to him.  The servant was afraid of losing his Master’s money and being punished.  The servant might even have been angry at his Master because he was jealous of his fellow servants because the Master gave them more than he received.  His fear and self-centered greed seems to have paralyzed him, and he did not accomplish the mission that his Master entrusted to him.

How are we like this failed servant?  Do we ever have a wrong idea about God, our Master?  I think that if we are really honest with ourselves, we can see how we are just like this failed servant, and have a wrong idea about God.  It all goes back to the Garden.  The real deception in the Garden of Eden was not about the nature of the Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  No, the real deception was about how to view God.  The serpent, convinced Adam and Eve into thinking that God was harsh and unreasonable.  If we think of God in these terms then it provides an easy excuse for giving in to laziness and self-pity, something our fallen nature loves to do.  Fear of God becomes just that, fear and trembling about being punished by a God who is just waiting for us to screw up so that He can land on us.

Is this how we really should think about God?  Of course not!  Jesus is not a harsh and unjust master; He is a good, generous, and powerful King!  He proved that by selflessly suffering and dying on the Cross for US!  Jesus also proved it by the clarity of his teaching, like the revelation He gives us in this parable, a crystal-clear, unambiguous explanation of the meaning of life.  He shows us that our life-mission is to take our God-given gifts and put them to good use, shaping the world around us as Christ would have us.  Our destiny, He shows us, depends on our making a decent effort to fulfill that mission.

Our parish’s patron, St. Theresa of Lisieux, is a wonderful witness to the right idea that we should have about God.  This is the key to her “little way,” that has so touched the world.  St. Theresa teaches us to have utter, complete, total confidence in God, a perfect Father whose goodness is absolutely unlimited.  She once wrote: “One has to recognize one’s nothingness and to expect to get everything from God, just as a child looks to its father for everything….  Even if I had on my conscience every sin it is possible to commit, I should fling myself, my heart broken with sorrow, in to the arms of Jesus, for I know how he loves the prodigal child who returns to him.”

Believe it or not, this is what the Church means when it teaches us that “Fear of the Lord” is one of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  It is not a fear of being punished by a harsh God, but rather the fear of causing God sorrow by my sins, of disappointing Him.  Unlike the servant in the parable, we should not fear being punished by God, but rather fear disappointing and being ungrateful to God who has shown us such unimaginable love and mercy.

St. Theresa’s idea of God was so magnificent, and not just abstract and theoretical.  She confesses in her autobiography that for years she often fell asleep during prayers and even after receiving Holy Communion.  She comments on this by saying, “I ought to be very upset, but I’m not, for I know that children are loved just as much by their parents when they are asleep as when they are awake.”  That’s the right idea of God, and that’s the idea God wants us to have.

So, how can we get this right idea about God?  How can we purify our minds and hearts from the wrong ideas about God that we are too often bombarded with?  One of the best ways is to spend time with Christ Jesus in the Eucharist.  “During Mass, at the words of consecration spoken by the priest over the bread and wine, Christ himself becomes truly present.  The fact that Jesus has chosen to remain with us in this way reminds us of what kind of a God he really is. He doesn’t want to frighten us with His power, intimidate us with His knowledge, or dazzle us with His glory.  Instead, He wants to strengthen our souls with His divine food, just as natural food strengthens our bodies – that’s what Holy Communion is all about” (“My Homily for the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time [A],” Homily Packs, www.epriest.com, Nov. 16, 2008).

Jesus also wants to accompany us, to listen to us, to simply stay with us.   And so, after Mass, the Hosts that haven’t been received in Communion are kept in the Tabernacle.  For the rest of the week, Jesus waits there, patiently, humbly, quietly.  He is thinking of us all the time, continuing to offer Himself as a sacrifice to the Father for our sake.  And we can come into the Church and visit Him at any time, for five minutes or for five hours, sharing our joys and sorrows, begging for His help, praying and meditating, or simply sitting with Him and letting His grace penetrate our minds and hearts.  Receiving Holy Communion frequently and frequent visits to the Eucharist in the tabernacle heal our suspicions of God, gradually transforming us into better followers of Christ, just as the words of consecration transform bread and wine into His Body and Blood.

Today let’s thank Jesus for giving us this constant reminder of God’s goodness and generosity, the Eucharist, and let’s promise Him that from now on we will use it better than ever.

I know that it has been a while since I posted anything on this blog, but I have been away.  Over a year and a half ago I planned a vacation, from October 31, 2008 until November 10, 2008.

One thing about me, which I have not mentioned much on this blog, is that I belong to the Apostleship of the Sea, USA.  This is an organization, run by the US Bishops, for meeting the spiritual needs of “the people of the sea,” those people who large work on ships.  The Apostleship of the Sea, USA (AOSUSA) has several programs and responsibilities for these people, including port chaplains and the program I belong to, the Cruise Ship Priest program.  Basically, a number of years ago, several cruise lines were having concerns that when they asked for a Catholic priest to serve onboard to say Mass for the passengers and crew, they were getting “rent-a-priests,” men who had left the active priesthood (some suspended others even laitaized) for various reasons.  These men no longer had the faculties to celebrate any of the sacraments, and they would upset passengers by introducing them to their wives.  The AOSUSA developed the Cruise Ship Chaplain program in order to defend against this.  Each year I need to send them a letter from my bishop verifying that I am still a priest in good standing.  In return, several cruise lines have agreed only to use priest from AOSUSA.

I will be honest, it is a nice way for a priest to get an inexpensive vacation.  Our cruise is usually free, so we just have to pay for our transportation to and from the ship, and any excursions we go on.  In return we say Mass each day, sometime during the cruise say Mass for the crew, and on Sunday lead a non-denominational prayer service.  Yet, there are times when our pastoral duty is more.

This past cruise was a 10-day cruise that left Barcelona, Spain and made stops in Marseille and Villefranche (both in France), Livorno, Citiavecchia and Naples (Italy), Malta, and Tunis.  It rained a lot for the first few days, but we (I took my mother) got to see Pisa and Pompeii, and when we got to Malta the weather was beautiful.  However, this cruise was a bit more work.  Early in the cruise, one of the members of the crew died unexpectedly.  So I made myself available to the crew who were in shock.  I also lead the memorial service.  The doctor onboard, a devout Catholic, was struggling with a medical ethics issues so I spent time in prayer and discussion with her.  There were passengers who wanted to speak to a priest.  All of it just underscored why this ministry really is important.

The day after I got back was my 44th birthday.  I slept in and then went through the mail that had piled up while away.  Since then the pastor and I have been busy.  There are so many good things happening here at the parish.  It is exciting, but it does cut into blogging time.

I am hoping to do some good things on this blog.  First, you may have noticed that I have been posting more homilies.  That’s because here at St. Theresa’s the deacons preach once a month and not twice like at my previous assignment, so I have more homilies to post.  I think I will be having more of my own reflections.  I don’t want it to be like a diary online, but some bloggers have encouraged me to share more of my own opinions.  After all, it is MY blog, and not a homily to the parish.  In homilies the priest should be more restrained about his opinions because people can think that he is speaking for the Church (as he is in some ways).  However, in a blog I am speaking for myself.  Now I hope that I am always speaking WITH the Church, I can have my own opinions (whether it is about who I think should win the SuperBowl or what I think about the recent elections or other political events) that would not necessarily be things that the Church would speak directly about.

Finally, I hope to use this blog for School of Community.  I am a member of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, one of the new ecclesial movements, and our most basic “gesture” is our weekly School of Community meeting where we share a reading and then our own experiences of encountering Christ Jesus in our everyday life.  It has really helped me keep from becoming abstract, and being more connected with reality of every day life.  The School of Community becomes your friends and your mutual witnesses to the Goodness of God, as we together continue to journey with Jesus.  I started a School of Community at my previous assignment, but that is over an hour away from where I am now.  It would be too soon to start one here (first people need to get to know and trust me.  Then they might say, “Father, can we learn more about CL?”).  A few people have asked me about CL here, so we might be able to start a School of Community in the near future here, but in the mean time I still want to make the time for prayerful reflection on the works of the Movement.  So I thought I might just read a bit of the current book the Movement is reading, and share my reflections (brief summary of the reading) and experiences as related to the reading on this blog.  If others want to start a conversation about it GREAT, that’s what the comments are for.  We will see how it all works out.