19/11/2023

I cannot say that I felt glad when I saw the parable that is today's Gospel Reading. Parables such as the Good Samaritan, the Sowing of the Seed, The Foolish Virgins present and reinforce all that I have learnt about Jesus from his Life, Death and Resurrection.

I have always thought that God creates our souls equally able to live in the Providence that is our time on Earth. Kings are Kings and beggars are beggars but God Incarnate died and rose from death to bring God's grace equally to all human beings who humbly accept that they are sinners without pride in their own person. In another parable,"Thank God that I am not as other men" is the condemned "gratitude" of hypocrisy.

I cannot see the Hard Master as Our Father who throughout our lives stays close and brings himself to us in Sacraments and the unseen grace of the Holy Spirit. This is harder than any of the other hard sayings of Jesus who brings us to the Kingdom by his own acceptance,"pro nobis", of torment and death.

The "hardness" in this parable is not the punishment for failure but that there was no guidance from the "Master". Our God has revealed himself over centuries and so we know what we are to do with selves/souls in this world. We have to worship God and treat our neighbours as ourselves even as did the Son of the Father. We have to carry our own crosses in the footsteps of Our Lord and can ultimately be sure of a welcome by the Master, Father, Son and Holy Spirit who is the source of Joyful Love for all his "children" to share equally.

Dear Lord, You never have gone away and left us to our own devices. We have been shepherded by your prophets and your Son has guaranteed salvation for all who seek it with sincerity. There are only two Human beings who have received a soul greater than the rest of us, Jesus and Mary. The Church you founded was built around Jesus and Mary and they are still the heart of the spiritual community of believers that is still also there, but hidden, within the Institution.