We are unprofitable servants

Gospel of the Day (Luke 17:7-10)

Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here immediately and take your place at table'?

Would he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished'?

Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?

So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.'"

***

Reflections:

'We are unprofitable servants'

Once I was a crude and ignorant exile who didn't even know how I would take care of myself in the future (cf Eccl 4,13 Vulg). This much I know for certain: «before I was afflicted» (Ps 119[118],67) I was like a stone stuck deep in a mud puddle. But then God, «the Mighty One» (Lk 1,49) came along and in his compassion reached down and pulled me out, raised me up, and placed me on top of a wall. Because of this I must proclaim my good news, I must pay God back in some way for all that he has done for me here on earth and what he will do in eternity-blessings no one can even imagine.

So listen to me well, all of you, «you who revere him, small and great» (Rv 19,5), especially you wealthy landowners so proud of your education, listen and consider this carefully: God chose foolish little me from among all of you who seem so wise and so expert in the law and so «mighty in word» (Lk 24,19). He picked ignorant Patrick ahead of all of you - even though I am not worthy - he picked me to «go forth in reverence and awe» (Heb 12,28)... The love of Christ carried me here to be a help to these people for the rest of my life, if I may be worthy, and to work for them with humility and in sincerity.

Because of my faith in the Trinity, I must choose to proclaim the gift of God and his everlasting help confidently and without fear, to make known his name everywhere, so that even after I die it might be a kind of spiritual legacy left behind for my brothers and sons, so many thousands I baptized for God.