Rv 4:1-11 / Lk 19:11-28
One of the phenomena in our society that never ceases to amaze us is the conduct of abused spouses. A woman may find herself beaten so badly as to require emergency care, her children may be beaten as well and near starvation, and countless other atrocities may be perpetrated upon her — and still she makes no move to leave and refuses all offers of assistance.
“It’s crazy,” we say. And we have the same reaction to the man in today’s Gospel story who just buried the money entrusted to him instead of investing it. In both cases our amazement is right-headed, but before we rush into all sorts of moral judgments, we’d do well to look in the mirror. Inertia and paralysis are no strangers to most of us.
There’s something bizarre about the fact that we tend to manage the least important parts of life reasonably well, but are victims of inertia or inattention when it comes to core issues. Our mortgages and insurance policies get paid on time, our cars get serviced and our haircuts happen on schedule, but what about our marriages, our kids, our spirituality…? The list goes on.
In today’s parable the man who froze in place got his punishment from an angry king. For us it will be different. We shall have to live with the “monsters” we have created by our inattention and neglect. Why let that happen? Choose a happy future by attending to what counts in the present!
