Because everything is as gift……And gifts are either used or they are wasted……..“For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Today at Holy Mass we hear from the Gospel of St Matthew, Jesus tells a story about three men…..Each of the men have a certain amount of talents…One 5, the other 2 and the last 1…..The two with 5 and 2 talents did something with what was given to them….However, the man with one talent did nothing…..When the time for judgement came….God recognized the two men who did something with the talents given to them…However, the man who had one talent and did nothing with it was in big trouble…..What can we learn from this story?…..Many things actually….For one, everything we have is a gift…..Second, what has been given to us was given for a reason, to be shared first with our family and second with our neighbor…Lastly, there are consequences for being selfish and thinking what was given to us, is only to be used for ourselves….Those who have been given much - Much will be expected!…….Its very easy in life to take for granted the many gifts given to us and only utilize those gifts to benefit our self….Only when we “look” with the eyes of God can we see the great responsibility bestowed upon us to use what is given to us as something to be shared. This is how we build the Kingdom of God on earth…..”Thy Kingdom come..Thy will be done…On earth as it is in heaven”….Remember those words?……Or are they just words?

“Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's joy.”

Many years ago I was backpacking in Vietnam. This trip was my first time in Asia and also the first time I was exposed to third world poverty. Walking the streets of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) I noticed many of the barbers of the city would cut their customers hair on street corners. They did not have a barber shop like the barbers in America. Their customers would sit on a crate set up on the sidewalk….As you can imagine these Vietnamese barbers were very poor…I noticed this sight because my father in America was a barber and as the son of a barber in America I grew up in a house fully owned by my family and was educated in private schools…..As you can imagine…The sons of Vietnamese barbers in Ho Chi Minh City would have none of the things I had living in America yet both our fathers did the same thing for a living…..While I thought about this comparison on this backpacking trip…I began to reflect…God loves equally the son of the Vietnamese barber and me exactly the same…Yet, I have been given so much more….So the question becomes…Don’t you think God expects so much more from me?…I would think so!…..God loves both sons equally, one was just given more then the other…Therefore…The one who was given more - Must do more with what was given to him

“Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise”

Traveling abroad can give one prospective however such experiences do not guarantee for us to “see” with the eyes of God and recognize our responsibilities to others. Only through daily prayer, fasting and living a Sacramental life do we come to “see” the world the way we were made too……St Paul reminds us in the first reading from Mass today….”Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord”…Again, beautiful words spoken but do these words sink in?……..Not until we have “eyes to see” and "ears to hear" will we view our many gifts the way we are called too

Beautiful words mean very little unless those words “take flesh” and are put into action.

As with all things, there is a cost for not viewing the world as one should……..Jesus tells us about that cost in the gospel….”For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away”……..God gives us free will and with all our choices soon to follow are the consequences of those choices….Our time here on earth is very short…..Its for us to “figure out” what we are to do with what we have been given…Because everything is as gift……And gifts are either used or they are wasted……..“For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”