31st Week, Friday, Nov 7: Saint Willibrord
Romans 15:14-21 / Luke 16:1-8
John Henry Newman, the great British convert to Catholicism, wrote: "God committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have a mission—I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I shall do good. I shall do his work, if I but keep his commandments and serve him in my calling." Many of us are not so lucky as Paul. We do not have such a clear picture of what God is calling us to do in this life. But like John Henry Newman, we know that if we keep God's commandments, we will accomplish our mission. And we will be amazed in the next life when we learn how important our mission actually was.
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Do we really believe we have a special mission? "Lead, kindly Light ... Lead Thou me on!" John Henry Newman
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Paul excuses himself for interfering in the affairs of the Church of Rome, for it was not founded by him. But he will rely on the Romans for his missionary journeys to the West. He has two basic reasons for dealing with them: collegiality – for he is an apostle like the others – and his priestly ministry as evangelizer bringing the Good News to all.
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Many a time, our best ideas come about out of a desperate situation. It takes an urgency to get us to try out ideas that we may not have even thought of before. Such was the case with the steward in today's gospel parable. It might sound rather confusing to us that that master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. But the point here is not about the steward's dishonesty but his astuteness.
Jesus is focusing on the urgency and energy with which a worldly man secures his future at a time of reckoning. And He even urged that we, the children of the light, should learn from that, and ensure that our own future is not in jeopardy. We must not be dishonest or immoral; in fact, we are called to be upright and moral especially when we are faced with so much temptation to enter into the dark side.
But we are children of the light. We must believe that the light will prevail and scatter the darkness. Then the truth of each person will be revealed.
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The steward in the Gospel of today is dishonest and loses his job as a consequence. The loss of his job makes him think wisely and plan accurately for the future by renewing and strengthening his relationships. The master praises the steward’s astuteness. The parable firstly reminds us that we are not ‘owners’ of anything, even of our own lives, but only ‘stewards’; God is the sole owner. Secondly, as stewards, we are accountable to the master. Thirdly, we must use all our skills, talents, abilities and resources to build up the Kingdom of God.
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Whatever the unknown context of today’s parable may have been, the central thought of Jesus’ words seems to be this: Much has been entrusted to us and we will have to give an account for it to God. We must act responsibly, keeping our goal in mind: God and our neighbour. Let us be people who try to know where we are going and what we are doing.
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Prayer
Lord our God, you have made us responsible with you for many persons and things: for ourselves, for other people, for the future of this world. May we be good stewards of all you have entrusted to us. Help us to use our talents wisely and well in the service of all that is good, always inspired by faith and living in the love of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
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Saint Willibrord
Feast Day November 7
Willibrord set out with 11 disciples for the Netherlands. They became missionaries to the Frisians. On the way back from Denmark he was shipwrecked on Heligoland, an island controlled by Radbod. There he confronted pagan superstitions by slaughtering sacred animals and by loudly baptizing three people in a pool where absolute silence was required. To appease his god, an angry Radbod martyred one of Willibrord’s party. Then the king summoned Willibrord and upbraided him.
The king demanded to know why he had violated their sacred places and insulted their god. The herald of truth answered him with steady courage: “O king, you do not adore God but the devil. He has fully deluded you so that he can thrust your soul into everlasting fire. For there is no God but one. He created sky, earth, sea, and everything that is in them. Whoever worships him with true faith will have life forever. I urge you finally to renounce that foolish delusion of your ancestors, and to believe in the one Almighty God and Our Lord Jesus Christ. I call on you to be baptized in the font of life and wash away all your sins. Then with all wickedness and wrongdoing cast away from you, you may live as a new man in all reasonableness, righteousness and holiness. If you do this you will win an eternal life of glory with God and his saints. But if instead you reject the path of salvation, then be most assured that you will suffer eternal tortures and hellish flames along with the devil to whom you pay court.”
Astounded, the king replied: “I see that you truly had no fear of our threats and that your words match your deeds.” Although he refused to believe in the truth that Willibrord preached, still he respectfully sent him back to Pepin.
In 715, Radbod regained Lower Frisia and temporarily undid much of Willibrord’s work. However, after the king’s death in 719, Willibrord with the aid of Boniface repaired the damage. In his remaining years he planted the church there so firmly that he earned the title “Apostle of the Frisians.” Willibrord died in 739 on retreat at Echternach, Luxembourg, a monastery that he had founded.
