"Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more." Lk 12:48
I am a very rich man. I am in good health. I am very well educated. I live in a home with running water, electricity, heat in the winter and room air conditioners in the summer. We have computers and television. We have a full kitchen, and indoor plumbing. We eat each day without worrying whether we can afford the meal. I have a car for my use and enough money to put gas in it. I can go to a doctor when I am sick and pay for medication when I need it.
Unfortunately, like most people in the developed world, I often take all of this for granted, and even feel entitled. If the phone doesn’t work for two days, I might threaten the service provider with switching to another company. You get the idea. I have been given so much that when I read today’s gospel parable, I realize that my one task is to stay awake in gratitude and too often I am asleep, even to the gift of faith.
On occasion, I ask people at a workshop to complete the statement, I believe..... Their responses always touch and challenge me. They say: I believe there is a benevolent God who loves his children. I believe God has sent us his son as an eternal gift. I believe that the world is a good place that I can make better by my faith. I believe I should be compassionate to every creature. You can imagine the rest, and I would encourage you to pause a moment to answer yourself. When we stop to notice, acknowledge and offer a word of gratitude for whatever and whomever comes to us each day, we are different. We are rich and as Jesus reminds us, “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much.” Don’t be afraid of this warning. Be grateful for the gifts you have been given, and share them generously. God gives us all the strength to live our faith and give it away with joy and exuberance.
Today, make an inventory of all you have been given. Then take five minutes of silence to sit with your gifts in gratitude.
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