Homily by Father Emmanuel Schwab

33rd Sunday During the Year – Year A

1st reading: Proverbs 31,10-13.19-20.30-31 – Psalm: 127 (128), 1-2, 3, 4-5

2rd reading: 1 Thessalonians 5,1-6

Gospel: Matthew 25,14-30

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When Scripture speaks of a “perfect woman,” it is undoubtedly the Church that it is speaking of. The holy bride of Christ, the Church, this humanity that Christ Jesus is bringing together to marry her and thus make her his body. The Church through which they make themselves present to the world. The Church of which, by pure grace, without any merit on our part, we have become members through baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist, the sacraments of Christian initiation.

This first reading from the book of Proverbs invites us to reread our own relationship with the Lord Jesus. Can he trust and with us do not lack resources ? Do I do, do I we bring happiness to the Lord Jesus, and not his ruin, all the days of our life ? Do we know choose wool and linen, and work with our hands willingly, in the service of the Lord? Do our fingers open in favor of the poor under the guise of which the Lord himself makes himself present? Do we know reach out to the unfortunate ?

You may know this anecdote from the life of another Teresa, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, who was asked one day by a journalist what was wrong in the Church, and she replied: “You and me ! You and me ". What needs to change in the Church? You and me. What can I do to make the Church more beautiful, more holy? Become more beautiful and holier myself. And we have, in Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, a mistress of holiness.

Thérèse complains – it’s August 4, 97 –; she said: So, even for Holy Scripture, isn't it sad to see all the differences in translation? If I had been a priest, I would have learned Hebrew and Greek, I would not have been content with Latin, so I would have known the true text dictated by the Holy Spirit (CJ August 4, 5). And it’s true that there is a small detail in today’s Gospel that is not anecdotal. Our translation tells us: “He who had received the five talents went to use them and gained five more.” The Greek uses the following expression: εἰργάσατο ἐν αὐτοῖς, he worked in them. And I regret that this verb “work” does not appear in the translation. It is about working with the goods that the Lord has left us. This is why the Christian life is tiring! Because it is about working tirelessly, until our last breath, to make what the Lord has left us bear fruit.

Is my Bible on my lap several times a week, or is it permanently hidden on a shelf? Simple question…

Do I willingly receive the sacraments of the Church regularly? The Eucharist every Sunday, whether it rains, winds or snows, but also the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, several times a year? But also, if I live as if I were married, the sacrament of marriage...?

What the Lord leaves us, which is his active Word in the Holy Scriptures as in the sacraments: do I receive it in such a way that it works in me or that I work in it? And we must use both expressions to fully understand that the Word of God is powerful: it does what it says; but for it to do what it says, I have to work to receive it. It's all about work.

On the question of “work”, Thérèse is not stingy, she talks about the desire she has to work for the glory of the good Lord (Ms C 8r°). In manuscript A, she says: Jesus made me a fisher of souls, I felt a great desire to work to the conversion of sinners (Ms A 45v°). And she works for the conversion of sinners not by going to lecture them, but by offering herself to Jesus, by offering herself to the merciful love of God, and by taking advantage of all the little opportunities for small sacrifices invisible to the eyes of men to manifest her love in return for Jesus, to demonstrate that she loves him more than anything.

In a letter to Céline, when she had just entered Carmel, she said to her: Céline darling, one day we will go to Heaven, forever, then there will no longer be day or night like on this earth … Oh ! what joy, let us walk in peace looking at Heaven, the only goal of our communication. Rest time is approaching (LT 90).

A few days later, in another letter, she wrote, again to Céline: We only have the short moments of our life to love Jesus, the devil knows this well, so he tries to consume it in useless work... (LT 92).

And it seems to me that today's readers are inviting us to perhaps examine our lives. What do I spend my time on? What do I do all holy day? There is definitely a need to sleep several hours a night. There is also a need for waking rest. What do we do with the 24 hours of our day? I sleep, but my heart is awake, says the wife in the Song of Songs (5,2). How do I seek to work the work of God in everything, including in my waking rest?

How is my heart present to the presence of God? Parents know it well: when they have a sick child, this sick child is present in their hearts all day long. Lovers know it well: when you are in love, the presence of your loved one is present in your heart all day long. Are we in love with Jesus enough for him to be present in our hearts, whatever our activity? And that we can learn from this love for Jesus to work tirelessly in the work of God?

If we thus seek to work tirelessly in the work of God, when the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night, as Paul says, we will have nothing to steal from us since we will have already given everything to the Lord. He comes like a thief in the night for him who wants to keep his life for himself... But for him who already seeks to give himself entirely to the Lord, when the Lord comes, it cannot be like a thief since he there is nothing to steal, since everything has already been given.

Let us ask for this grace to work tirelessly in the work of God, whatever our state, whatever our life.

In all things, let us know how to give ourselves to the Lord, by welcoming His Word, by welcoming the grace of the sacraments, so that he can gradually become our holiness.

Amen