Sunday, November 13, 2011 {Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
It is not particularly difficult to find thousands who will spend two or three hours a day in exercising, but if you ask them to bend their knees to God in five minutes of prayer, they protest that it is too long.
-- Bishop Fulton Sheen


READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
(The Capable Wife)
10 How hard it is to find a capable wife! She is worth far more than jewels!
11 Her husband puts his confidence in her, and he will never be poor.
12 As long as she lives, she does him good and never harm.
13 She keeps herself busy making wool and linen cloth.
19 She spins her own thread and weaves her own cloth.
20 She is generous to the poor and needy.
30 Charm is deceptive and beauty disappears, but a woman who honors the Lord should be praised.
31 Give her credit for all she does. She deserves the respect of everyone.
Psalms: Psalm 128:1-5
(The Reward of Obedience to the Lord)
1 Happy are those who obey the Lord, who live by his commands.
2 Your work will provide for your needs; you will be happy and prosperous.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in your home, and your children will be like young olive trees around your table.
4 A man who obeys the Lord will surely be blessed like this.
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion! May you see Jerusalem prosper
all the days of your life!
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
(Be Ready for the Lord's Coming)
1 There is no need to write you, friends, about the times and occasions when these things will happen.
2 For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come as a thief comes at night.
3 When people say, “Everything is quiet and safe,” then suddenly destruction will hit them! It will come as suddenly as the pains that come upon a woman in labor, and people will not escape.
4 But you, friends, are not in the darkness, and the Day should not take you by surprise like a thief.
5 All of you are people who belong to the light, who belong to the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
6 So then, we should not be sleeping like the others; we should be awake and sober.
Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30 or 25:14-15, 19-21
(The Parable of the Three Servants)
14 “At that time the Kingdom of heaven will be like this. Once there was a man who was about to leave home on a trip; he called his servants and put them in charge of his property.
15 He gave to each one according to his ability: to one he gave five thousand gold coins, to another he gave two thousand, and to another he gave one thousand. Then he left on his trip.
16 The servant who had received five thousand coins went at once and invested his money and earned another five thousand.
17 In the same way the servant who had received two thousand coins earned another two thousand.
18 But the servant who had received one thousand coins went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them.
20 The servant who had received five thousand coins came in and handed over the other five thousand. ‘You gave me five thousand coins, sir,’ he said. ‘Look! Here are another five thousand that I have earned.’
21 ‘Well done, you good and faithful servant!’ said his master. ‘You have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness!’
22 Then the servant who had been given two thousand coins came in and said, ‘You gave me two thousand coins, sir. Look! Here are another two thousand that I have earned.’
23 ‘Well done, you good and faithful servant!’ said his master. ‘You have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness!’
24 Then the servant who had received one thousand coins came in and said, ‘Sir, I know you are a hard man; you reap harvests where you did not plant, and you gather crops where you did not scatter seed.
25 I was afraid, so I went off and hid your money in the ground. Look! Here is what belongs to you.’
26 ‘You bad and lazy servant!’ his master said. ‘You knew, did you, that I reap harvests where I did not plant, and gather crops where I did not scatter seed?
27 Well, then, you should have deposited my money in the bank, and I would have received it all back with interest when I returned.
28 Now, take the money away from him and give it to the one who has ten thousand coins.
29 For to every person who has something, even more will be given, and he will have more than enough; but the person who has nothing, even the little that he has will be taken away from him.
30 As for this useless servant—throw him outside in the darkness; there he will cry and gnash his teeth.’