Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
(II Maccabees 7:1.20-31; Luke 19:11-28)
Author Flannery O’Connor once wrote that she was a
Catholic “not like someone else would be a Baptist or a Methodist, but like
someone else would be an atheist.” This
is to say that she would do more than go to church on Sunday but would invest
herself in her religion by defending it and showing how it makes the most
sense. Jesus’ parable in today’s gospel exhorts
his followers to do something similar.
The parable is as disturbing as it is revealing. Why is the dimwit who doesn’t invest his gold
coin treated so roughly? Why are those
who did not want the noblemen as their king slaughtered? There are no good answers to these questions because
they are irrelevant. As in many other
parables Jesus is not advocating that his hearers imitate the examples he
makes. Rather he wants them to take note
of the situation at hand. The Kingdom of
God is breaking into the world. One can
either seize the opportunity and be abundantly rewarded or pass it by. There is a third option – to reject the presence
of the Kingdom -- which is tantamount to self-destruction.
Catholicism has so much to offer humans not because every
Catholic is perfect or even good but because the Church presents the
opportunity to know Christ both physically and spiritually. We know him through the saintliness of many
fellow travelers, people like Pope Francis.
We also know him in the sacraments where he heals and nourishes us. Of course, we know him in the gospels and
also in the truths that have been handed down through his apostles and their
successors.
