Still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more

Rm 6,12-18; Ps 123; Lk 12,39-48
23 OCTOBER

The higher up you are placed by God and the greater our responsibility. A father is responsible for the life of his family. A principal responsible for all his school. If you do not study, you take drugs, you are bullies and you commit misdeeds in it, he is responsible before God for all the evil that is done and all the good that is not done. A mayor is responsible for the whole city he manages. Of the evil that is accomplished and of the good that is not accomplished he will have to account to the Lord. The same rule applies for a head of a province, region, state, government  and dicastery. Authority must be lived entirely in the service of good. Not of the good thought by our mind. But of the true good, the one thought and wanted by the mind of God and his wisdom. Who is placed at the head of one or many must know that of every evil he left to be done or promoted or legislated or proposed or even desired indirectly, he is responsible before God. Who was given much, much more will be required.

Hear, therefore, kings, and understand; learn, you magistrates of the earth’s expanse! Hearken, you who are in power over the multitude and lord it over throngs of peoples! Because authority was given you by the Lord and sovereignty by the Most High, who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels! Because, though you were ministers of his kingdom, you judged not rightly, and did not keep the law, nor walk according to the will of God, Terribly and swiftly shall he come against you, because judgment is stern for the exalted – For the lowly may be pardoned out of mercy but the mighty shall be mightily put to the test. For the Lord of all shows no partiality, nor does he fear greatness, Because he himself made the great as well as the small, and he provides for all alike; but for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends. To you, therefore, O princes, are my words addressed that you may learn wisdom and that you may not sin. For those who keep the holy precepts hallowed shall be found holy, and those learned in them will have ready a response. Desire therefore my words; long for them and you shall be instructed. Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of men’s desire; he who watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate. For taking thought of her is the perfection of prudence, and he who for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care; Because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude ( Cf. Wis 6,1-25).

Whoever has received the Gospel will have to answer from the Gospel, who baptism from baptism and so also from confirmation, from the Eucharist, from penance, from the diaconate, from the presbyterate, from the episcopate, from the cardinalate and from the papacy. For every gift of the Holy Spirit we will be asked much more than for every material good received as a gift from God.

Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute (the) food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.

It is an eternal truth. Every man, knowing that he will be judged by God according to the use of every gift and every responsibility, every sacrament and every ministry, is obliged to put all commitment to produce according to what has been received. Every gift was given for a purpose of justice, that is, for the fulfilment of a specific and particular will of God. If we neglect the will of God and dedicate ourselves to something else, this also must be given account of.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints ensure that we take awareness of the divine will.