Rev. James A. Wallace, C.Ss.R.

Jan 16 2025

How Are Your Investments Doing?

A song in the musical Scottsboro Boys observes that life is what we do while we’re waiting to die. And this is how our life passes by. Today’s parable calls for a more purposeful approach: life calls for investing what God has entrusted to you.

A “talent” was a year’s wages. Jesus uses this parable to warn his followers that they are to spend their time wisely while waiting for him to return. They will do this by investing the treasure God has given them. Jesus was not talking here about natural talents, though that is a worthy enterprise. But a disciple of Jesus is to do something with the treasure of the gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God, the gift of faith in Jesus Christ.

God expects a return on this investment with us. We are to share the Good News with others, not keep it to ourselves. The gospel is the greatest treasure we have been given. We might feel we have only a limited understanding of our faith, but we are not to bury it in silence. Rather, plant the seed of God’s word in the minds and hearts of others.

Our first reading about a “worthy wife” describes a person who invests in living life for others. She is also called the “capable wife” or the wife with a capacity for wisdom. The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord, honoring God by what we do in the world. Spend the time wisely while waiting for the Lord to return.

Consider/Discuss

How is Jesus like and unlike this master?
What aspects of the gospel do you recognize as a treasure?
How do you invest your understanding of the gospel in life?

Responding to the Word

We pray for the wisdom to be children of the light, bringing the gospel to others, especially during times when darkness threatens and people act out of fear. We ask to be ready to welcome Jesus when he comes and asks us to render an account, so we might enter into his joy.

Jan 16 2025

Getting Prepped

At first hearing, there is a worrisome note in this parable Jesus tells near the end of Matthew’s account of his ministry. We like to think of Jesus as the Lord of second chances, even third and fourth, and that we have plenty of time to get our act together and to gather the necessary “oil” to welcome him when he returns. But the bridegroom’s final words are, “I do not know you.”

Is Jesus indicating that a day will come when that opportunity to make up for what we have failed to do will not be given, that the time for springing into action will have come and gone? Could we find ourselves locked out of the party? Since most of us are sometimes foolish, sometimes wise, what form does foolishness take in our lives? What are we putting off doing?

Matthew uses this parable to fire up his community’s desire for the return of the Lord, to call them to a more active hope in Jesus’ return. It also serves to confront indifference and lethargy in our lives. That necessary oil can refer to doing those good works that allow the light to shine in the world, especially when darkness threatens.

Being wise means being prepared for a future with the Lord. Jesus is the Wisdom of God who gives us a share of this wisdom as a gift of the Spirit. Let us both seek wisdom and be prepared to welcome it when it comes to us.

Consider/Discuss

Do you identify with either the wise or foolish?
How do you understand the call to “stay awake”?
Do you consider yourself a person who seeks Wisdom?

Responding to the Word

We pray for the gift of wisdom, to be seekers of wisdom, and that in our seeking, Wisdom will find us. We pray for the virtue of hope, which is grounded in the belief that Jesus will indeed come again, like a bridegroom, like a thief in the night, like the Son of Man in power and glory.

Jan 16 2025

The Faces of Holiness

In an interview, the Dalai Lama talked about the importance of recognizing one quality that all the world religions share as a common value—the virtue of compassion. This virtue is held up for imitation by all the major religious tradi tions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. It helps us to view each other with respect and appreciation.

Today’s feast invites us to think about all the holy men and women who have opened their lives to God’s grace and have embodied compassion in the world over the centuries. From the early days of the church the names of the martyrs were mentioned during Eucharist. Today we can remember all the holy ones who have touched our lives—men and women, family and friends, canonized and uncanonized saints over the centuries.

The last book of the Bible, Revelation, written at a time of persecution, offers us a symbolic vision of the end time when a multitude from every nation, race, people, and tongue will be gathered together. These are the ones who have been sealed as true servants of God and will sing an eternal song of salvation. We hope to be part of that jubilant chorus.

In the meantime, we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses who urge us on to complete our task of living as beloved children of God, to live out the plan of the kingdom Jesus preached in the Beatitudes, and to be a presence in the world of God’s Spirit.

Consider/Discuss

Who are some of the saints who have touched your life over the years? • Are there any “living saints” in your life now?
Which of the Beatitudes best speaks to you as a way to holiness at this time?

Responding to the Word

We may give thanks to God for the call to holiness we have heard in our own hearts and include the names of those who have shown us what it means to be holy. Ask the saints to continue to intercede for us so that we will be faithful in our efforts to bring about the kingdom of heaven.

Jan 16 2025

Be Good News

A friend told me she had been the last in her family to stop going to Mass on Sundays. Her siblings had long since given it up. The reasons had a great deal to do with the quality of church leadership they experienced. Too much outward show of authority, too little indication of inner sanctity. Dispensing official teaching is not enough; living humbly and as a servant is the heart of ministry. The harsh words of the prophet Malachi seem more relevant than ever in our day. When we priests fail to walk in the way of Christ, fail to give glory to God’s name by what we do, we become unworthy of our calling to serve God’s people. Of course, this kind of behavior is not limited to clergy. Jesus is speaking to the crowds and disciples about the Pharisees, the lay leaders who saw themselves as “separate” from the rest because of their outward signs of piety. He also calls them to authentic lives.

“The greatest among you must be your servant,” Jesus says, a message he repeats again and again in the Gospels. His followers are as resistant to it now as they were then. But the faithful follower is not about titles, or ecclesiastical dress up, or posturing in self-importance. Discipleship in the kingdom that Jesus came preaching is about being brothers and sisters who gather around Jesus Christ, the one Master, who humbled himself and waited for God to exalt him. May the same goal be ours.

Consider/Discuss

What is your experience of those called to shepherd God’s people?
Do you pray for your priests, your bishops, the Holy Father?
Is humility a practical virtue in our world today?

Responding to the Word

We pray for all who hold positions of leadership and authority in the Church, that they not only speak but embody the gospel in their lives. We can ask God to raise up more men and women who will instruct by example and words and who will walk humbly in the way of the Lord.

Jan 16 2025

Living in God

In an article on “successful aging” (New Theology Review, November, 2010), Dr. Lawrence M. Lenoir proposes that the art of giving and receiving love is at the heart of growing old gracefully. Research shows that being in a loving relationship quiets the demons of depression and despair. So, if you want to be healthy, be loving. Jesus would agree.

The rabbis of Jesus’ day argued about which was the greatest commandment of the six hundred thirteen in the Torah. When the Pharisees asked Jesus, he answered that what God wanted most from the chosen people who had been liberated from slavery and called to live in a covenantal relationship was a return of the love God showed to them. This love has two faces: loving God totally and loving one another as one loves oneself.

Loving is a contagious activity. If you are loved, you tend to be loving. Paul is sounding this note when he writes to the Thessalonians about how they became imitators of him and his fellow evangelizers Timothy and Silvanus, and of the Lord himself, receiving the word and living in faith, joy, and love for each other, because they believed in God’s love for them, revealed in Christ.

Our love must flow outward in compassionate generosity. The Lord called on Israel to show its love by not oppressing aliens, not wronging weak orphans and defenseless widows, and not extorting the poor by demanding interest on loans. No less is asked of those who have received the Holy Spirit and live in community with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That’s us. Love one another.

Consider/Discuss

What do you think God wants most from you?
Does anything prevent you from responding to God’s love with all your heart, soul, and mind?
Who is the neighbor who most needs your love at this time?

Responding to the Word

It is difficult to love, especially when we have been hurt by others. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring you the “fire of God’s love.” Call on the Spirit to deepen your awareness of God’s love for you, shown by giving us life and the gifts of faith, hope, and love.