Sunday the 15th of November 2026 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31/ Ps 127(128)1
Thessalonians 5:1-6/ Matthew 25:14-30
The old image of the naughty child caught out by a parent protesting, "I didn't do nothing", comes to mind today. When we are called to account, we might well be able to list the things we did not do. We did not steal, cheat, or hurt anyone. The real question might be what did we do? I did not do anything will not be the answer we should give. I can remember receiving the odd gift card from time to time, putting it away in a safe place, only to find that when I later came across it, it had expired. Doing nothing is not an option. We need to be able to give an account of what we have done with the gifts, the talents, that we have received. Hiding them away, wasting them, burying them, is not what we are called to do. We are meant to use the gifts we have received to the best advantage we can for the good of others, for the building up of God's kingdom.
At the beginning of Mass, we strike our breasts and confess that we have sinned in what we have done and, just as importantly, what we have failed to do. This second aspect of our failings can be overlooked as we tend to gauge our lives by the first, did I lie, steal, hurt anyone? If not, we feel we are doing the right thing. That is the trap that today’s gospel passage is warning us about. The third servant did nothing wrong. He did not steal his master's money, waste it, or gamble it away. He handed back the coin he had been given. But he is the one Jesus refers to as wicked and lazy. His sin was not what he did but what he failed to do.
Another aspect of the gospel parable today is the value of the talents given. One talent was roughly twenty years of wages, this equates to a very large sum. The master trusted each servant with amounts according to their ability. The first two set to work to make the most of what they had been given. The third buried his gifts afraid of his hard task master and how it would be if he lost the money. He failed to understand that doing nothing was not an option, that his master expected him to use the gift he had received to some useful end and would be held to account for it.
The talents in this parable stand for everything God has entrusted to us through our baptism. Faith, grace, time, skill, money, the people placed in our care. These gifts are entrusted to us to be used for the benefit of others not to be buried unused. The first reading for today reflects how these gifts, these talents can be used. The Book of Proverbs presents Wisdom as female. In the final chapter it shows us what wisdom looks like in practice through the example of a wife and mother who works with eager hands, whose husband trusts her completely, who reaches out to the poor and the needy. She is everything the third servant is not. She develops her gifts and pours them out on others.
Scripture is full of such women, from Ruth and Esther to the women who supported Jesus and the apostles. Above all there is Mary, chosen by God as His partner in the plan of salvation. Her "yes" was the opposite of the buried coin. She gives us the example of self-giving. Men and women are not rivals in God's creation, nor are they unequal. They complement one another, working together with God to build His Kingdom. Today is designated as World Day of the Poor. The woman of the first reading opening her hands to the needy reminds us that one of the best ways to use our talents is to place them at the service of those who have the least.
Many Christians do give of themselves generously, but it is possible to treat faith as a mere function, attending Mass on a Sunday, or at least when we can, and more or less keeping the commandments. It can be easy to sit back and let others teach our children, prepare them for Holy Communion and Confirmation, visit the sick, reach out to those far from God. But we are all Church, each of us has gifts no one else can offer in quite the same way. That reminds me that the second collection today is for the Priests' Retirement Fund. These men spent their talents serving communities like ours for. We have a duty to support them just as we support our priests in ministry so they may live their remaining years with dignity and peace of mind.
The letter from Saint Paul adds to the message. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, at a time we are feeling peace and security. We, in our part of the world, have known a long period of relative peace, but we see tensions rising in the world around us, we cannot assume that peace will last forever. The only certainty is that each of us will one day stand face to face with Jesus. Paul's advice is simple, we should stay alert and sober. The Master who went away will return, and He will ask what we did with the talents He entrusted to us.
God is not the hard task master that the frightened servant imagined. God calls us to share His love and joy. Fear buries gifts while love multiplies them. Jesus gives Himself to us body, blood, soul, and divinity in Holy Communion. We cannot receive this great gift only to dig a hole and bury it. We must go out from Mass and bring this gift to the world. Let us consider the gifts that we might have buried, hidden, left unused. A skill, conversation, kindness, knowledge, a talent that we could spend on someone, especially someone poor or alone. When we confess what we have failed to do make these shortcomings into resolutions so that when the day comes, we will hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant."
God Bless Brendan