Homily for Saturday
21st Week of Ordinary Time
Aug.
30, 2025
1
Thes 4: 9-11
Matt
25: 14-30
Provincial
House, New Rochelle
“On the subject of fraternal charity, you have no need for anyone to write to you” (1 Thes 4: 9).
Addressing his
dear disciples in Thessalonica, Paul voices satisfaction with their practice of
charity both within their church community and beyond it, to “all the brothers
thruout Macedonia” (4:10), the region of Greece where Thessalonica and Philippi
are located.
But he urges them
“to progress even more” (4:10) by “aspiring to a tranquil life,” “minding your
own affairs,” and “working with your own hands” (4:11), which might seem to
suggest a kind of spiritual and even practical withdrawal from attending to the
wider community—to other residents of the city and the region. His words could be read as a bit
contradictory. How are they to progress in
their love for all their Christian brothers and sisters, let alone the city and
the region, while minding their own business and seeking quiet lives?
 |
| The master settling accounts (Willem de Poorter) |
Jesus’ parable, too, seems to contradict seeking tranquility and minding one’s own affairs; rather, it seems to urge civic engagement—“trading with” the talents entrusted to you. A talent is a unit of money, a quite considerable one, equal to 15 years’ wages, according to The Paulist Biblical Commentary[1]; not some natural endowment or aptitude.
That parable is
one of the 3 parables of judgment in Matthew 25, preceded by the parable of the
10 virgins and their lamps, and followed by that of the Son of Man’s separating
the sheep and the goats on the basis of their practical charity.
The master has
given each of his servants a precious gift with the expectation that they use
that gift to further his interests. That
gift, I think, is the Good News; or, if you prefer, faith in the Lord
Jesus. In any case, it’s not a gift to
bury in the ground or to hide away. The
so-called Benedict Option is not an option for a follower of Jesus. “Embracing exile from the mainstream culture
and constructing a resilient counterculture” in some hidden valley or behind
the walls of a compound isn’t the way to further the master’s interest in spreading
the Good News or multiplying the number of believers. That’s not what the founders of the
Cistercians did, even if take their name from Citeaux, probably meaning “a
swampy place.” Tho monks, they were
hardly secluded or buried away; they were, rather, active in affairs both
ecclesiastical and civil, like St. Bernard, Thomas Merton, and the martyr monks
of Tibhirine, Algeria.
“Aspiring to a tranquil life” and “minding your own affairs” sounds like the Benedict Option, not like going out to the whole world and making disciples of all nations (cf. Matt 28:19). That is the Jesus option. That is the “even more progress” in charity to aim at, bringing God’s love and love for all his children to the wider world. That’s what we do when we train good Christians and upright citizens. An upright citizen will be engaged in promoting a more just society and in preserving God’s creation for the common good of all, including future generations; a good Christian practices his faith openly and simply for others to see.
Being a good Christian and upright citizen isn’t a path toward tranquility. It takes one beyond his own affairs to the affairs of “all the brothers thruout Macedonia,” as it were, toward garnering interest on the master’s investment in the Good News delivered to us.
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