First Reading: 1 Peter 4:7-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 96
Gospel: Mark 11:11-26
Beloved: The end of all things is at hand. Therefore be serious and sober-minded so that you will be able to pray. Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace. Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Pet 4:7-11)
Imagine that you gave me a brand new car as a gift. Then a few months later you stop by to how me and the car are doing, when to your surprise the brand new car is not looking so good. It's got dents, dings, and scratches all around it from my reckless driving. It looks as it has been driven for a little while, as one of the wheels is missing and the car is propped up on a cinder block. The inside is full of trash and has gotten quite filthy. There are parking and speeding tickets inside the glove box. Now at this point, you are pretty ticked off, wondering what kind of ungrateful person does such a thing as take a perfectly good gift and waste it and not take care of it. In this situation it is a very fair question. I think that there are times in our life that God could ask the same question of our lives.
Like the car, we don't always use the gifts that are given to us by God. God gives each of us different gifts and abilities, and sometimes we use them for our own gain and glory. Other times we don't use them at all. Sometimes we are too afraid to use our natural talents and abilities, other times we are just too lazy. Whatever the case, the fact is that God has given each of us a beautiful life to live, a life that we are to be good stewards of. A life that is supposed to be spent loving God and others. A life where we use our talents and treasures to glorify God and to show His goodness to the whole world. As it says in the first reading today: As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. (1 Pet 4:10)
Jesus shows us today, that the choice to not produce fruit is not the right one. It is only by being good stewards of our gifts and producing good fruit that we can live the lives that we were meant to.
May God bless each of us in our journey, and may we each be the good stewards that we are called to be!
Father above, we thank you and praise you for the gift of this day. Lord, thank you for all that you have blessed us with and for all that you give. Help us to use the gifts that you have given us to glorify you and to spread your love to all those we come in contact with. Lord, we praise you for your great love and mercy, help us to never stray from your arms. We ask this all through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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