19th Sunday C

19^th Sunday C

Every one of us is a steward. Every one of us is in charge of goods, talents even of people. All of these things and persons belong to God. Waste them and we commit injustice and dishonesty.

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For instance, the food in your ref—well, we can waste them if we wish; but in reality they do not belong to you. They don’t belong to us. They belong to God who wants us to share it with those who are hungry. The same holds true for material things- food, electricity, water, and other material resources. The never-used clothes in your cabinets can dress up the naked in the slum areas. The cast-off stuff in the bodega can make a people in the slums happy.

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How about the waste of money for drugs, alcohol, cosmetics, unnecessary trips, expensive gudgets or even vices? How about the waste of talents? Our neglect to use our abilities God gave us?

Worse of all these is the spiritual waste – not using our spiritual gifts?

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Another application of this gospel is our concern for the environment. If we cannot learn to respect and take care of mother nature, of little things like water, air soil, with trees and rivers, …neglect will result to calamities!

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As we offer this mass, let us ask our heavenly father to help us be honest stewards, never wasting any of the goods He has put in our charge. But using them for his glory and for he benefit of all the children of God.

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Remember, “much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

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” . . . you must be prepared, for an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

Once upon a time, Satan called an end-of-the-fiscal-year meeting to go over the year’s results. He was not pleased, and he demanded to know what new strategies he could employ to guarantee success in moving men’s hearts away from their Creator. Sending men distractions in prayer and contemplation came just ahead of tempting men to greed and lust. Infiltrating and corrupting the music industry increased the numbers. Developing the multibillion-dollar pornography industry brought in great results. Yet, Satan was still not satisfied. Then one suggestion was brought to his attention: “We must convince the men of earth that they have a lot of time!” We all tend to think we will continue in this earthly life for many years to come. This may not be the case, for we know not the day or the hour. We must awake from our slumber, for “blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival .”

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-Slightly adapted