Today's Readings
God is not wasteful. He does not leave the door open when the heat is on, he does not light a lamp and then cover it up, and he does not give his Holy Spirit to those who will lay around and do nothing. Jesus' words here do not seem fair: “To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Should not those who are lacking something be given extra? However, it is completely fair because of the abundance of God's gift. If someone does not have, is because they have wasted what they were given. God gives us gifts in abundance; if we are lacking, it is because we are not using what we have been given.
As Jesus says here, “Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.” Eminently logical and yet we do not do it. Do we use these ears given to us by God for his service, for listening to the word of God, for hearing the distress call of the poor, for listening to the lonely? God has given us these eyes to see his people in need, but what do we use them for? To watch TV? God has given us, every one of us, a mind and body to use for his glory. We are not our own. We do not exist to give ourselves pleasure, to entertain ourselves. We exist to love God and our neighbor. Why would God continue getting his gifts to someone who uses them for evil purposes or even simply for no purpose? He is rich but he is not wasteful.
Yet God is merciful. Even though we have wasted his gifts, and we have, for that is what sin is, wasting the gifts of God, even though we have wasted his gifts, we can change that in a moment, in this moment, right now. Today is the day of salvation! Now is the acceptable time! We can begin serving God, using his gifts to us, right now, and then we will see what God will give us. O the gifts that God has in mind to give us! The riches which he is longing to bestow on us! As soon as we use the gifts that he has given us, we will find that he has so much more to give us.
Daily Homilies
