Daily Gospel

I presided over the celebration of a Baccalaureate Mass and used this as the gospel. The grade six students who were having their thanksgiving in that celebration surprisingly knew exactly what the Gospel challenges them to do. In the course of giving the homily, I asked them how they saw themselves in the light of the gospel and they all agreed that God wanted them to make good use of the blessings they had received from God as far as intellectual knowledge is concerned.

None of God’s created humanity is without any blessing. Such blessings are expected by God to be harnessed and nourished until they become fruitful and a source of further blessings for the recipients and others as well. To simply rest on whatever God gives you is to miss the point. God gave us blessings and He expects us to do something about them. I know of a priest who always conducted surveys at every parish that he was assigned to. Two of the questions he asked were, “What is your occupation?” followed by, “How can you help your local church?”

The idea is so simple; the priest wanted the parishioners to realize that their occupation in life could also be used as their occupation to achieve the next life.

And so Architects would come to him and offer free architectural designs for the church renovation. Teachers would come and offer Sunday catechetical instruction for children. Accountants would come and offer their services in handling the temporal goods of the church. Doctors would come and offer medical services for the indigent parishioners. The poor and unlearned would come and offer their time and energy as the church’s foot soldiers.

I believe this is exactly how God wishes all of us to work on earth—to cultivate our gifts to benefit us and make others benefit from them as well. Fr. Sandy V. E.

REFLECTION QUESTION: What is your occupation? How can you help your local church?

The talents You gave me are abundant. Give me a heart that longs to use these for the good of others.

St. Catherine of Bologna, virgin, pray for us.