Resurrection Monday

Today is LCol Thompson's Funeral.   This is a time of celebration of his life.   But a lot of people view his death as the end.   How sad to think others view death as  that of when  a person dies, that is the end.   Death is a new beginning.   Death is not the end.   Through the scriptures we read and know that God has given us hope and love in the Resurrection.  Hallelujah!

Remember to make time today for sitting (or standing) in God's presence!
Monday retreat.....

Pray: As the new day dawns may we be led to the places where we can see the needs that You have for others in the world. Amen.

Read  St. Matthew 25: 14 – 30

This is another parable about the end of times.   Jesus begins by saying that the return of the Messiah will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted three servants with differing amounts of money (talents). A “talent” was worth more than a thousand dollars.    The man gave his servants a lot of money.  He entrusted his servants with all of his property.     Wow!  The master must have really trusted and respected his servants to give them all of his property.  

After a long time,  the Master returns and asks the servants what they have done with his money.  The Master compliments these two servants and calls them “good and faithful servants”.   While the first two servants have doubled their Master’s money,  the third servant decided to bury the money and keep it safe.  The Master is angry with the third servant and states that he should have at least put the money in a bank where it could have earned interest.   Life is not good for the third servant.

Banking at the time of Jesus was suspect.   If the third servant had put the Master’s money into the bank,  the Master might actually have ended up with less money through nefarious bankers.

So what is the point of this parable?   We have to remember why Jesus told this parable in the first place.  This parable is not about money but about how we use what God has given us before the Son of God returns.   Do we keep our “talents” and gifts to ourselves?  Or do we go out into the world asking God to use us each day to bring about His Kingdom here on earth?  According to this parable,  nothing gets done for the Kingdom of God without taking some risk.  And taking risk is scary,  but with God by our side,  all things are possible Oh Good and Faithful Servant.

Pray; You have given us much Lord, riches to use, gifts with which to serve others, wisdom and sanctified imaginations with which to provide solutions to the challenges of living in this world. Help us to make effective use of these your gifts not for our own glory but for Yours, and for the building up of Your kingdom. Amen.