THIRTY
– THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Prv. 31:10-13,19-20,30-31; Ps.128; 1 Thes. 5: 1-6; Mt.
25:14-30
No
Fear! But we cannot live without it. Every time we wake up in the morning, we
are always surrounded with fears. No wonder psychologists have given us a long
list of common and strange phobias. If you are afraid of men, you are
androphobic. If you are afraid of women, you are gynophobic. If you are afraid of
white people, you are leukophobic. If you are afraid of black people, you are
melanophobic. If you do not want to be alone, you are autophobic. If you do not
want to be in a crowd, you are agoraphobic. If you are afraid to love, you are
philophobic. If you have are afraid of debts, you are arithmophobic. We cannot
live without fears!
In
our Gospel today, we heard about the third servant who explicitly told his
Master that "out of fear, I went off and buried your talent in the ground
for I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant, and
gathering where you did not scatter.” Fear made him act that way. And such the
same fear determined his tragic end.
However,
in our first reading today taken from the book of Proverbs, we heard a praise
for this good wife not because of her deceiving charm and fleeting beauty but
because of her fear of the Lord. And even our responsorial psalm today joyfully
exclaims, “Blessed are those who fear the Lord!”
To
experience fear in our lives is natural. It is not sinful. Every time we are
threatened by others or when we think of the unknown future, we always become
afraid. What is crucial is therefore what happens after our experience of fear.
It is natural to be afraid in front of our bosses. It is natural to be afraid
when we are about to undergo a very serious and delicate surgery. But what is important
is on what we do with such fear. In the end, fears can either make us or break
us!
And
this is what happened in our Gospel today, though it is not explicitly
mentioned that it was out of fear that the first two servants invested the
talents, the third servant has in a way provided us with what kind of person
their Master was. “You were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not
plant, and gathering where you did not scatter.” Thus, it was natural for the
three to fear him. However, the first two did something better. They invested
the talents while the third servant did otherwise. Granting that the three of
them acted out of fear, what matters in the end was on how they dealt with
their fears.
That
is why in another part of Scriptures, from the book of Deuteronomy, we realize
that fear is only part and parcel of what God asks of us. “Now, therefore,
Israel, what does the Lord, your God, ask of you but to fear the Lord, your
God, to follow in all his ways, to love and serve the Lord, your God, with your
whole heart, and with your whole being, to keep the commandments and statutes
of the Lord that I am commanding you today for your own well-being.” After
fearing the Lord, we are asked to walk in his ways, to love him, to serve him
with all our heart and soul, and to keep the commandments. More is expected
from us! To fear is only the beginning.
We
have received much from God! From the first day of our existence up to this
very moment, God has continuously poured out his abundant blessings in our
sinful and unworthy lives. Standing in front of God’s majesty and glory, we
cannot but fear him. Yet, what matters in the end is on how we used these
blessings – if we have followed him more closely through these blessings; if we
have loved him more dearly through these blessings; and if we have served him and
our neighbors more sincerely through these blessings.
Every
day, we cannot live without fears. But we can always do something with them. To
fear the Lord is only the beginning. More is expected from us. What follows
after that fear, matters the most. How about you? What are your fears? Have
they broke you or made you? Amen!
NB. Picture above is taken from www.sciencedaily.com
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