Scripture Reflections for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year A, Lectionary 157
God gives us a wealth of love and mercy. Are we putting it to good use and sharing it with others? We may decide to hide it and not let it grow unto others but that is not appreciating the gift God offers us. If we fail to see God's generous ways we will have a distorted view of God's gift to us and misunderstand what we need to do with them. Only when we know the Master can we multiply love and mercy like God does.
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: Affirmation • Alert • Care • Change • Community • Duty • Environment • Evangelize • Expand • Faith • Fear • Fidelity • Gift • Grow • Invest • Investment • Jealous • Journey • Joy • Law • Lazy • Marriage • Mary • Mercy • Mystery • Nurture • Prepare • Receive • Risk • Rosary • Saint • Share • Sin • Steward • Talent • Universal • Valor • Virtue • Wait • Wealth • Wisdom • Woman • Women • Work •
“I still find myself chafing against this reading. Even taking one trait at a time this woman or women are still defined not for themselves but for what they do for others, they're valued for the work they do not for who they are.”
“So there's that tension between the definiteness of the final judgment that we know it's going to happen but then the uncertainty of the exact timing”
“If we think of God as a hard man judge who does not give mercy freely but instead is a thief then we are too afraid to do anything with this mercy”
“Can God be a thief? No. Everything that exists is from him, it all belongs to him. So even when we give him something we're simply giving back to him what was his to begin with.”
“There is nothing on that stock market that is made in the image and likeness of the most high God...You can find the poorest person on any part of this, this neighborhood, this state, this country, this world and I guarantee you they are worth more than any vault in any bank could ever hold. Do we understand that?”
“God wants us to not be afraid, to live without fear. Or said in positive way, to live in trust.”
“So the gifts that each of us receive are a gift of the Spirit and they are not entrusted to us for our own benefit but ultimately to proclaim the Good News”
“the main point of this parable is that sins of omission have consequences. That spiritual sloth, in other words failing to take the gifts that God has give you, given you and to actually utilize them, to invest them, to bear fruit, to multiply them, is itself a sin. It's a sin of spiritual sloth.”
“Many of us have tons of gifts that we celebrate and tons that we run from and if we don't use the, even the gifts that we don't like, a part of God's Kingdom does not come, it's not illumined, people aren't served”
“We are all people of invaluable worth. Share your gifts. It is a timeless blessing for those who give and those who receive.”
“The only fear that you and I should have is not being with the Lord for all eternity. That's why our citizenship is in Heaven, you belong to Heaven.”
“It seemed more doable to find a talent and use it. The parable drew me in and kept me searching. Later my mandate expanded to appreciating the talents of others and to help children find their talents.”
“There is no one who knows everything and there is no one who knows nothing. There is no one who has everything and there is no one who has nothing. Each one of us has something to offer.”
“God pours gifts into us not just for ourself but for other people and when you and I don't use our gifts other people do not become the beneficiaries of God's mercy, of God's grace, of God's forgiveness, of God's justice, of God's love”
“Has God made a good investment in you? Well, here's a way to look at it. If you are using everything that you have for his purpose and not for your own selfish means then you're a good servant. God made a good investment in you.”
“The truth of the matter is that for whatever people don't want to do they will always find an excuse. But for whatever they want to do they will always find a way.”
"we're not immune to tragic events or to illness or to anything. We just have a different, I guess, we just have a different way of approaching it and that's through the lens of faith."
In the latest episode of the 1 Christian 1 Topic Podcast "Faith Amidst Tragedy," we have a conversation with Liz on faith, suffering, and prayer. More