This is the last Sunday in Ordinary Time! Next Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King. Thanksgiving weekend marks the beginning of Advent and the new liturgical year – Year B in the three year liturgical cycle.

The first reading from Proverbs for this Sunday gives us a description of a life lived well.  It describes the attributes of a good wife who does good all the days of her life.  She helps the poor and those in need and speaks with wisdom and is kind to everyone.  Her husband and children call her blessed.  It ends with a prayer that she is rewarded for all she does and hope that everyone who knows her sings her praises!

The Psalm this week is Psalm 128: Blessed are Those Who Fear the Lord  “Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways!  For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork; blessed shall you be, and favored.”

The second reading for this Sunday is from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians wherein Paul reminds us that we are children of light and of the day, and not of darkness and night and therefore we, being in the light, are not unprepared for the coming of the Lord and His arrival should not come upon us like a thief in the night and overtake us. 

The Gospel according to Matthew is a parable of a man who takes a long journey and entrusts his possessions to his three servants in differing amounts according to their abilities.  Two of the servants take what is given them and they use it to double the amount originally given to them in trust.  The third servant takes what is given him and in fear, for he knows his master is demanding and that he harvests where he doesn’t sow and gathers where he does not plant, buries it in the ground.  When the master returns the third servant returns what was given to him and is scolded and sent away into the darkness outside. 

It all ties together to give us wisdom for how to live our lives and how to be instruments of the Gospel message!  The parable of the three servants is not about fairness, it is about how Jesus empowers us to bear fruit in the Gospel!  If we are given understanding of the Gospel message and, therefore, understand our task is to spread the Gospel to others, we are creating the fruits (more Christians and believers of the Gospel) that Jesus will harvest where WE sowed for him!  In this way we are like the first two servants who are given some and create MORE. 

When our faith is mired in laziness and apathy and we are lackluster servants we are like the third servant and we do nothing to grow what has been given to us and even that will be taken away if we fail to recognize its worth!

We wrap up our liturgical year with a final lesson on how to live a good life that grows and expands on the fruit of the Gospel in our lives!  In little ways each and every day we can influence and bless the lives of others through our life in Christ.  Small actions, words or deeds, can positively effect others and enrich their lives with the love of Christ!  Think of some small way you can spread the love of Christ to others each and every day!  Perhaps a kind word…a helping hand…a pleasant demeanor and a welcoming smile! 

Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways!

Have a blessed week.