What did the parable mean in today’s Gospel? Jesus said the servants are to be ready for their master’s return and so they were to be sure their lamps were lit and be ready for when the master comes to the door and knocks, so they would be ready to let him in. What is all this referring to? The parable refers to the Day of Judgment, when Jesus, the master will come and ask us, his servants, for an account of what each of us did in our life, good or bad. If we are prepared for our judgment all will go well, if not Jesus states the servant will be beaten. In another words, if we don’t prepare every day for our judgment and live as though it were our last day, we will suffer in the next life for not living out our faith as we should. Jesus said, “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
Catholics are entrusted with much, because we have the fullness of truth revealed by God. Therefore, more is demanded of us. The four marks of the Church help us to know we are the one true Church founded by Christ. And His one true Church was given everything mankind needs to obtain eternal salvation. Do you remember from your Catechism classes, what are the four marks of the Church? The four marks are four ways everyone can tell the Catholic Church is the one true Church founded by Christ. The Church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. And no other church makes that claim. We are the only Church who claims to be founded by Christ Himself.
We are one, because we are one if faith, one is sacrifice, one in sacraments and we have one head of the Church, who is the pope. No matter what Catholic Church you go to, in Kansas, in Nebraska, in Ireland, in Brazil, in Africa, in Japan, in Russia, in France, in Pakistan, we all have the same faith and believe in the same doctrines.
We all have the same sacrifice of the Mass. In every Catholic Church, there is a liturgy of the word and liturgy of the Eucharist and everyone receives the real and true body of Christ in Holy Communion.
We are one in the sacraments. In another words, the 7 sacraments are the same everywhere around the world.
And we are one by our obedience and love for the pope and so we are all one in following the pope as head of the Church.
The Church is Holy because the founder of our Church, Jesus Christ is infinitely holy and because we are all called to holiness and are able to become holy by the 7 sacraments, which sanctify us. The teachings of the church are holy and the people who make up the church are holy.
We are Catholic, which means the Church is for every person, no matter race, color, nation or ethnic background, our Church is for everyone.
Our Church is apostolic, which means what we believe has been given to us through the apostles. We have apostolic succession, and so the bishops today are successors of the apostles, through the laying on of the hands through the sacrament of ordination.
Because we are the one true Church founded by Christ and because we have the fullness of truth revealed by God and because we have the four marks of the Church, this causes us to reflect upon the wonderful gift we have of being Catholic and our responsibility to live out our faith. As Jesus said, “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”
By having this faith, much is required of us. First, of all we are not saved by faith alone. In the book of St. James, he said, “faith without works is dead”. God requires we live out our faith by loving and caring for others, which is why we are to do good deeds. What good would be our faith, if we did nothing with it?
Besides living out our faith and constantly studying it, we must openly profess it. If fail to know our faith or to study our faith, we can eventually lose our faith, which is the pearl of great price. For if we don’t know our faith, how can we believe it and share it with others. If we know our faith, if we study our faith, we will want to profess it because we will want others to know and love what we believe.
The beautiful thing about being Catholic is that priests come and go, but the Catholic faith never changes. You as parishioners remain, the faith remains and what really matters is what we all believe as Catholics.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives us everything we need to believe as Catholics. The Catechism is what makes us one in our faith. What is in the catechism has come down to us from the apostles.
We can go to Mass here at Holy Trinity, or at Holy Cross, or St. Paul in Lyons, or St. Joseph in Mcpherson and no matter where we go, the faith is the same because of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this is what makes us Catholic, the same faith.
An example of what I am saying is this, if I were to say to you, if you purposely miss Mass on Sunday or Holy Day of obligation it is sin requiring confession before you can receive Holy Communion. This comes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph #2181 states, “….the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.”
These are not my words. These are the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This is what Catholics believe everywhere.
The parable Jesus gave to His apostles is a reminder, we are to always be ready for the day and the hour when Our Lord will come to knock at our door for our judgment. In order to be ready, we need to study our faith and come to know our faith, to live out our faith, to grow in our faith, to share our faith by professing our faith.
The Virgin Mary is a great woman of faith. May She give us a portion of Her faith, so we will be prepared for the day and hour we will be held accountable when Jesus, Her Son, the Master, returns.
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