33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A - Use Your Talents & “Give Thanks To The Lord”

There’s an idea about God that we are all used to, that God loves and embraces us just as we are. There are plenty of scripture readings that tell us that, from the Prodigal Son to all those meals Jesus ate with sinners. They tell us there is nothing we need to do on this earth to merit God’s love, we have it without asking for it or earning it.

What does this weekend’s Gospel (Mt 25:14-30) of the three servants and their talents tell us about God? It doesn’t sound much like a Jesus story, a literal competition with two winners and one loser? What we see here is Jesus telling a story that asks why we don’t ‘act’ like we know that God loves us. God’s unconditional love is not an excuse for us to do ‘nothing’ in this life. Instead, it is a reason to be willing to try anything. While God might love us and embrace us the way we are, we have very strong evidence from the scriptures that God is not satisfied with the condition of this world. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s not good!

We’re being pushed a little hard in this Gospel to worry less about what we might lose in life, and to set our eyes on what we could win, if only we allowed ourselves to feel God’s love for us, if only we could see the safety net that is actually underneath us always. This weekend’s gospel is not promising us success in everything, but that the risk of trying to put God’s gifts to work is better than the fear of losing. Never bury a talent. Give thanks for your talent, place a bet with it to help make the world a better place, and see what happens!

In honour of this Gospel and the upcoming U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, we would like to share our latest video, ‘Give Thanks and Glorify His Name’, a spirited and engaging hymn calling all to give thanks and praise to the Lord. This joyous Thanksgiving anthem also includes the first verse of 'Now Thank We All Our God'.

Video can be watched by clicking here or on the picture below: