Nov 17: The Moral of the Parable of the Ten Pounds

Matthaeus Merian the Elder: The Parable of the Ten Pounds

Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, religious
Gospel: Lk 19:11-28

“He said to the bystanders, ‘Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’ (And they said to him, “Lord, he has ten pounds!”) ‘I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away (NRSV, Lk 19:24-26).’ ”

Lord God, wherever I am, whatever I am doing, in each moment I stand in your presence. You call me, regardless of everything else, to let go of what I have been up to this moment that I might say “yes” to you, that I might grow in the gift of your divine life. It is this challenge that defines every moment of my life, indeed defines my very life. This is what it means to be a human being: to be called by you to say “yes” ever and ever again and to grow constantly in you.

In thus calling me to yourself in every moment, Lord, you are not summoning me to abandon the world in which I live, but rather to choose you first above all else and then to order family and friends, work and possessions, in fact everything that I am and everything that I do, around you. Thus all finds its meaning in you, and only in you. Without you as the focal point of existence everything that could be so meaningful can only become the source of disharmony and confusion.

Lord, you offered me your life for the first time in my mother’s womb but you did not want me to rest content with that gift as I first received it. To rest secure in your life, I must grow in it ever more deeply, even turning back to you each time that I am distracted by sin. Growth upon growth through all eternity, that is the destiny to which you call me, Lord. And so Jesus said, “To all those who have, more will be given.” If I turn from you, Lord, and instead make some creature the center of my life, even for it is a person worthy of great love and devotion, discord will fill everything that I am and go out to those around me. Thus continued Jesus, “From those who have nothing [From those who have not chosen God], even what they have will be taken away.”

Lord God, strengthen me to make you and your coming kingdom the center and focus of my life and everything that I do that I may grow, and always continue to grow, in true riches that will then abound to all of my sisters and brothers.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.