Homily for Saturday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time

For daily readings, see http://www.usccb.org/nab/090107.shtml

For me, this parable of the talents is all about making disciples for the Lord! Faith in Jesus that is kept to one’s self quickly becomes stale, and quickly becomes worthless. But those who are trying to make disciples, they are the ones who tell God everyday – Lord, increase my faith! Give me more faith because without more faith, I will never have the courage to tell others about you and to bring them to you! I find it a real poverty in my own life when I am stuck trying to put a relative value on my faith in God. I am really afraid of losing the treasure of my earthly life when I compare who I can be through my own choices versus who I can be by letting God choose a life for me. It is fear that causes us to live our faith only for ourselves. It is fear that holds onto sin and its meager security. But when we try to make disciples for the Lord, we forget the danger of losing ourselves. The reward of investing our talent in making disciples is self-forgetfulness. If we are not afraid of losing our earthly life, we will inspire others to seek the kingdom of heaven as well. Most importantly, the more joy we have in making disciples, the less time we will spend remembering the meager security we had through our former slavery to sin.