St. Paul tells us that we are to love one another with pure and sincere hearts. He requests us to live quietly, mind our affairs, work with our hands, walk justly and not be dependent. Everything we do must demonstrate our love for God and for one another. In the Gospel reading, the third servant is condemned as ‘wicked and lazy’ and the talent is taken from him. The opportunistic and hard-nosed master expected him to take a risk and obtain results, not to play safe by hiding the money in the ground. It is easy to dismiss this as a greedy person’s point of view. But in life, one who does not take risks may eventually lose out. This may well be true of eternal life. Jesus teaches that whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever would lose his life for the sake of Jesus will find it. Those who try to save what they have by not caring for people in need will lose everything. If we do the “sacrificial losing” called for in the process of serving others, we will find ourselves saved for eternity.

Prayer: Abba Father, fill us with grace, peace and wisdom to love one another as you love us. Amen.