Labor Day
Today’s readings: Genesis 1:26-31; Genesis 2:1-3; Psalm 90; Matthew 25:14-30
“Well done, good and faithful servant. Come share in your Master’s joy.” These are the words that we all want to hear one day, on that great day, the judgment day, when God gathers us all in to bring us to the reward for which he created us. This parable is Biblical evidence that just accepting the faith and having a relationship with Jesus aren’t enough for salvation. We have to work with God, using the talents he has given us, to help God create that “kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace” (Mass for Christ the King).
And so, like the man who received one talent, we cannot go hiding our talents away hoping that our Lord will ignore our fear and poor self-image. We have to be willing to invest our talents in the work of creation, doubling what we have been given, and bringing it back to the Lord.
So many people say, when they are asked to do some special project or take a place on a ministry “Oh, I could never do that. That’s for people with way more talent than I have.” I have two things to say about that. First, they might be right. Maybe they don’t have the ability, all by themselves, to do what God is calling them to do. But God never said they had to do it by themselves, did he? God can provide infinitely what we lack. Second, this kind of false humility isn’t praiseworthy. It is almost like spitting your talent out of your mouth, back at God, and saying, “God, what you have created is nothing.” God forbid that we should ever say that to the one who made us!
And so, on this Labor Day, we are asked to pause in the busy-ness of life and look at what God has created, and the talents he has given us. The Church teaches that our work is to be an active participation in God’s ongoing work of creation. Our work must build up the world in beauty and splendor, carefully using but protecting the rich gifts of the earth, caring for and loving the poor as God himself loves them, and making the world a better place than we found it. That is the nature of the talents with which we have been entrusted, and we must busy ourselves making good use of them, because we don’t know when our Lord will return in glory to gather everything and everyone back to himself.
Today we are commanded to “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.” We take up that call anew on this Labor Day, praising God for the goodness of creation and the blessing of our talents, and resolving to use all of that for his greater honor and glory. The Prayer after Communion sums up what we ask for on this day: “By doing the work you have entrusted to us, may we sustain our life on earth and build up your kingdom in faith.” Amen!
Sphere: Related ContentFr. Pat’s Iced Coffee
Coffee Concentrate
1/2 pound Just Coffee Ice Coffee Blend, medium ground (buy it after Mass, first Sundays!)
5 cups water
Mix in a bowl, and let steep at room temperature, 12 hours. Pour through a coffee filter and store in refrigerator, up to 2 weeks.
Fr. Pat's Iced Coffee
1 cup coffee concentrate, recipe above
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 cup milk (whatever kind you like)
1/2 cup French Vanilla coffee creamer (or whatever flavor you like)
Mix together in a pitcher, pour over ice. Relax and enjoy, knowing that you are also helping small coffee grower cooperatives in developing nations to have a just standard of living. Offer a prayer of thanks for their loving efforts to produce superior coffee that is organic and sustainable.
More information about fair trade products and Catholic social teaching.
Sphere: Related ContentAll Creatures of Our God and King
“All Creatures of Our God and King is one of my very favorite Catholic hymns. The tune is Lasst Uns Erfreuen, and it is also the tune for “Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones” (which is timely, with All Saints Day coming up this week!” The wonderful fall colors got me thinking along these lines today! This is one of many versions of the hymn seen on YouTube.
The text for “All Creatures” is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, which of course adds to its belovedness! The text for “Ye Watchers” is from John A.L. Riley.
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All Creatures of Our God and King All creatures of our God and King O praise Him! O praise Him! Thou rushing wind that art so strong Thou flowing water, pure and clear, Dear mother earth, who day by day And all ye men of tender heart, And thou most kind and gentle Death, Let all things their Creator bless, |
Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones Ye watchers and ye holy ones, Alleluia! Alleluia! O higher than the cherubim, Respond, ye souls in endless rest, O friends, in gladness let us sing, |
Autumn in Naperville
Autumn is here in Naperville and I love it. I didn’t think we would get many nice colors this year with the weather we’ve had, but there are some nice oranges and reds in some of the trees around here. These are right at the corner outside the Church and provide a nice backdrop, depending on where you’re sitting in Church!
Sphere: Related ContentThursday of the Fifth Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s Scriptures speak of the dignity and importance of women in the life of the world and of the Church. The first reading, of course, speaks of the creation of the first woman. She is not named, but is referred to as “woman” because “out of “her man’ this one has been taken.” The story is familiar: the man is put into a deep sleep and one of his ribs is taken and closed up with flesh. From this rib bone, the woman is fashioned. That the woman was formed from part of the man indicates the close partnership that exists between them: they are of one and the same flesh, created by one and the same God. This act of creation also creates a very important partnership: men and women are meant to be together, and their union is a sacramental sign of the life, breath, love and creating power of God.
The second woman we meet is the Syrophoenician woman in today’s Gospel. The Gospels have a male-centric view that tends to say little about women, but this woman makes an impression. Her faith that Jesus can heal her daughter, and her persistence that he would hear her prayer, give us a model for our spiritual lives. For us disciples, a strong faith in Christ means never questioning his ability to act for our good, and never letting anything - not even the technicalities of a perceived mission - get in the way of acting on that faith. We too are called to steadfast faith, and persistent prayer.
It is only with the creation of the woman that the creation of the world and all that is in it is complete. The woman completes God the Creator’s vision for the world, and now everything and everyone is in place for the praise and glory of God. Looking at the women in today’s Liturgy of the Word, we should give praise for the completeness of God’s creating power, and renew our faith and the persistence of our life of prayer.
Sphere: Related ContentCare for God’s Creation
“God saw how good it was.”
This has been the refrain in the first reading these last couple of days. We are reflecting on the story of creation from Genesis, a story with which we are very familiar. But we don’t want a familiar story to become old. We also don’t want to get caught up in this story with issues it does not intend. People get very caught up in the evolutionism - creationism debate and base their hypotheses on the information given in the Genesis story of creation. It’s important that we realize that the Catholic Church doesn’t teach that this story, or any similar story in the Bible, should ever be taken literally, so it doesn’t offer support for any theory of how things began. Instead our Church sees that, although this story is largely mythological, there is some very important truth in it, and that truth is the refrain, “God saw how good it was.”
God, who is goodness itself, created the world and everything in it to be a reflection of himself, a reflection of God’s goodness. The goodness of all of creation is the basis of Catholic social teaching, which is one of the most unique teachings our Church offers, a teaching that is, I believe, one of the greatest gifts we offer everyone in the world. This belief in the goodness of all creation means that we Catholics should take very seriously the efforts to preserve and care for our environment. We care for our environment because it is God’s great gift to us, a gift that reminds us of how good God is. Who among us has been to a beautiful natural area like the Grand Canyon or even seen a wonderful sunset and not thought about God’s goodness? In moments like that, we see creation through God’s eyes, we see how good it was, and still is.
In the document, Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions, the US Bishops speak of the care that we owe to God’s creation: “On a planet conflicted over environmental issues, the Catholic tradition insists that we show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan, it is a requirement of our faith. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation. This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored.”
Caring for the environment seems like it can be a monumental task. But if each of us were to reverence creation as the Scriptures teach us, there wouldn’t be environmental issues at all. We might not be able to make a huge impact on the environment all on our own, but we can do one or two things in just our daily living that, gathered together with the efforts of each one of us, can truly make a difference. As we offer back the gifts of creation to become Christ’s Body and Blood, we can all reflect on simple things we can do, or do better, to celebrate God’s creation. May we all look on everything God created and see how good it is.
[I didn't preach on St. Paul Miki and Companions, today's saints, but here's a link to American Catholic's article about them.]
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