Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time A.  November 13, 2005.  Our Lady of Grace 7:30, 11:30, 6PM.  Proverbs 3: 10-13, 19-20, 30-30. I Thessalonians 5: 1-6. Matthew 25: 14-30.

Parenthood mirrors the wonderful, mysterious and powerful love God has for us.  That is why we call God “Our Father.”  That is why God has given Mary to us as our mother in God’s presence. Mary mothers us very powerfully as she stands before God to intercede for us and to lead us to the Jesus, her son, our divine brother and the source of eternal life.  Parenthood bears the imprint of the face of God.   I learned something about being called “Father” that I probably would have never learned by being a priest alone. It happened in my journey home from Siberia with the two boys I brought to the United States.  After a long plane flight to Moscow little Bobby, the four year old, needed to use the bathroom.  I stood with him in the stall because he was afraid to go in by himself.  That in itself was a new experience for me.  But more was to come.  When Bobby was finished he took a wad of toilet paper in his hand, stood up, handed the toilet paper to me and bent over.  He obviously was used to having someone make sure that he was clean after using the bathroom in the orphanage.  Something inside of me wanted to say, “Bobby, I’m a priest.  I don’t do the toilet paper thing!”   I knew that if I said this I would still be a priest, but I would not be a follower of Jesus Christ who came to be our servant and to lay down his life for us. 

In today’s gospel Jesus says, “A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.  To one he gave five talents; to another two talents; and to a third one… then he went away….after a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them.”  Those who used their master’s gifts well were given even more responsibility and a share in the master’s joy.  The one who was afraid and did nothing lost even the one talent he had been given and was thrown out into the darkness outside.   The purpose of the gospel is to teach us about our own lives.  Jesus, the great master, has gone on a journey by ascending into heaven.  While he is gone he has left us in charge of his most previous possession, the people he died to save.  He gave each of us various responsibilities and people to care for. When he returns, Jesus will reward or punish each of us based on the way that we have invested ourselves in service to one another.  The Cross stands before us as a reminder of the way that Jesus invested in us and served us.  To enter the kingdom of heaven our lives must imitate and mirror the servant love of Jesus Christ.

A few days ago I saw the movie North Country.  It is an “R” rated movie.  I do not recommend it for anyone who is not old enough to see it.  For the rest of us I would put North Country on the “must see” list.  The movie takes place in Minnesota.  It is based on a true story.  It is a profound experience of the abuse that at least some women feel in the workplace.  The movie moved me from my head to my heart in realizing again the great gift that women are in our lives, and the responsibility we have to protect and enhance the dignity of women.  It is one thing to see women abused in Afghanistan.  It is a very different thing to recognize and take responsibility for the abuse of women in the family and the workplace in our own society. 

Our first reading is a powerful testimony to the God-given gift that women are in our lives.   The Book of Proverbs says, “When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls.  Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize. She brings him good and not evil all of days of her life….She reaches out her hands to the poor and extends her arms to the needy.  Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

One of the most horrifying scenes in the movie is the violent abuse of a teenager by her teacher, resulting in the teen’s pregnancy.  Sexual violence against women is an ugly thing. It is very hard to watch – yet necessary so that we don’t pretend it doesn’t exist.  Many years later the son of this teenage mother finds out about how his life began.  In trying to explain her love for her son and why she went through with the pregnancy, the mother told her son that at first she thought of him as the unwanted presence of a violent enemy.   Then, as he began to move around inside of her she realized that he was not an enemy.  The being inside of her was her baby.  She said that she fell in love with the child in her womb in spite of the horror that marked his beginning.  The goodness of this woman shines brightly with the light of Christ.  God’s grace brings life out of suffering and love out of hatred.  It is not an easy journey.  There are many who need our support and our love in making it.

The Church came to birth out of the wounded side of Christ.  After Jesus had died on the Cross a soldier opened his side with a lance.  From the wound in his heart the Church was born.  Servant love, crucified love, gives birth to the kingdom of heaven.  And so it continues in our own day.  The ordinary yet heroic love of parents, of spouses, of friends and fellow workers continues to bring hope to our world as it continues to give birth to the kingdom of heaven in our midst.  For the gift of servant love we give God thanks and praise this day.