33rd Sunday Ordinary Time

Fr. Mark Gatto

Preached: November 26, 2023

Last week I was sitting at home doing some reading, including reviewing the readings for this Sunday.  So, I decided to listen to some music in the background.  I called out to my Alexa to play some Frank Sinatra.  The first song that came up was My Way.  You are probably all familiar with the song, it concludes with him summarizing his life by saying, “I did it My way.”

I like the song and in a certain way it is inspiring.  But, as I reflected on the parable of the talents that Jesus shares in this Gospel today, I thought about this.  I realized that at the end of our life, we do not want to say, “I did it my way.”  Rather, we want to say, “I did it the Lord’s way.”  We pray the Lord’s Prayer each day and say, “Thy will be done,” not “my will be done.”  The centre of the universe is not Me, it is the God of creation.

Everything we have in this life, all these talents we are blessed with, they are all gifts to be used on behalf of God.  Our life, our money, our capabilities, how do we use all of this?  Are we using them in a way that brings forth the will of God for our world?

The church too is called to use all we have not for ourselves but for the will of the Lord.  We are the body of Christ.  We have this beautiful church, a wonderful growing community, we need to use all we have for the will of God.

This weekend is the World Day of the Poor.  The St Vincent de Paul Society of our parish are here today.  On behalf of all of us, they care for those in need within our community.  You all support them financially and with the Christmas program.

Our parish needs to reflect on what the will of God is for us.  How do we use the talents of this parish on behalf of God?  How will we use the talents we are blessed with for the poor, the needy, the spiritually hungry?  How will we use the talents we are blessed with to work for peace in our families, our community, our world?

St. Paul tells the Thessalonians that one day we can have peace and security, but that suddenly in an instant life changes and destruction comes upon us.  I see it every day, a sudden sickness, a change in employment, unexpected death of a loved one, some outbreak of war, and so on.  Life can change very quickly.

So, St. Paul tells us not to fall asleep, to keep awake.  Am I living in a way that reflects the will of God?  We need to watch that we do not become so comfortable that we are ignoring the call of God in our life.  Are you awake?  Are you listening to hear the call of God in your life?  Are you reflecting on the will of God right now?

At the end of our life, we will want to be able to say, someone’s life is better off because I was on this planet.  In the end we do not want to say, “I did it My way,” we want to be able to say, “I did it the Lord’s way.”  We will want to be able to hand back to God the talents that we have been given.  To return them to God through a life lived in which we brought God’s care to others, to our family, to our friends, God’s care to creation, to strangers, to the poor.