Scriptures: Eph. 6:1-4; Mt. 25:14-30
Confucius says faithfulness and sincerity are the first principles in your life. Every relationship is made stronger by faithfulness. A unique story told by Sigrid Undset who lived in the 19th and 20th centuries. She was from Norway. She was a novelist and essayist. She got converted to Catholicism. She wrote a number of works. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928. She wrote a novel called The faithful wife. It is a marriage story. A couple lived a happy and perfect life for sixteen years. They enjoyed good jobs and comfortable living situations. One day, this happiness was shattered by the husband’s declaration of infidelity. The wife decided to file a divorce. They got civilly separated. She was a courageous woman. She found independence after the divorce, but something bothered her all the time: the thought of marital bonds is not so easily dissolved. Faithfulness had its part to play in her life. She was faithful to her husband. She wanted to be even after the divorce. It is said, some people are faithful because they are in love with faithfulness.
This is the story of the prophet Hosea of the Old Testament. Hosea married a prostitute named Gomer, a daughter of Diblaim. But Gomer kept cheating on Hosea. She was unfaithful. Hosea knew about it. Yet Hosea kept on going back to her again and again and brought her back home. She left him with the kids and went out committing adultery again and again. On one occasion, Hosea had to pay 15 shackles of silver to bring her back from the house of another man. (Hosea 3). The story of Hosea reflects the covenantal relationship between Israelites and God. The Israelites behaved like a Gomer all through their lives. God remained always faithful and responsible towards his people.
Faithfulness is the most important principle in our life. It gives a sense of trust, confidence and certainty. It is said that faithfulness is an anchor that helps to hold fast in stormy weather. It is interesting to pay attention to the nuptial rite. They give us two important values; faithfulness and responsibility. If you carefully pay attention to the rite, you will find there are five references to faithfulness in the nuptial rite. The word faithfulness dominates the act of consent. But before the couple is asked to be faithful to each other, they are asked three questions, “will you be responsible?” The answer is “I do”. There are three areas; being responsible for married life, loving and respecting the spouse and to begetting and upbringing of children. The whole married life hangs on the two strings of faithfulness and responsibility.
The scriptures in today’s liturgy help us to understand the same message. The first reading is taken from the letter to Ephesians (5:21 to 6:9). Paul gives certain directions for family life. He tells wives, to submit themselves to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives as you do yourself. Children, obey your parents. Fathers, train your children in the Lord. Slaves, respect and serve your masters wholeheartedly. Masters, respect your slaves. There is a call to every person in the family to be faithful to their duties as well as be responsible to their family.
In the Gospel, we find a parable of the talents. The master shares his property with selected servants before he goes abroad. He is not there to see what they are doing. He is completely out of sight. There is absolute freedom to use his money. He gives five talents to the first, two talents to the second and one talent to the third. We need to understand the meaning of talent. It means a big sum of money (talanton – Gk). It was equal to 6000 denarii. It was equivalent to 20 years of daily wages. It meant earnings of life which included time, money, ability and authority. The first two servants were faithful and responsible. They traded on the talent and doubled the talent.
In contrast to the first two servants, the third did nothing with the talent. He went and hid the talent. The parable ends with the judgement. The first two servants are rewarded and the third is punished. He was punished because he did not think, work or try. The master called him a wicked and lazy servant. That was his true identity. I am reminded of Mother Teresa. She said, we are not called to be successful but to be faithful. We need to be faithful to our calling.
There are several benefits of faithfulness. 1) It helps to remain committed to God. Being faithful means putting God ahead of everything. 2) Faithfulness builds trust. 3) Faithfulness helps to grow relationships deeper and stronger. 4) Faithfulness brings freedom and confidence. There is no need to hide secrets, no need to check, no worries. One divorcee said if I had spent much time working on my marriage then hiding my affairs. I would have had a great marriage. 5) Faithfulness prevents emotional pain. Nobody wins in the divorce. If you are faithful, it will help you to be healthy (emotionally and physically). 6) Your faithfulness will help your children. They will grow healthy. 7) Faithfulness prevents marital breakdown. 8) Faithfulness helps children to prepare for future married life or religious life. It would be called remote marriage preparation. 9) Faithfulness prevents financial chaos. Divorce brings lots of financial burdens. 10) Faithfulness lived out brings great laurels to the institution of the family.
As we are celebrating the annual feast of our blessed virgin Mary. We can reflect on her life. She had both virtues in her life. She was very faithful to her duties as a mother as well as a mentor of disciples. Her faithfulness is seen at the foot of the cross. Her responsibility is seen in the life of Jesus as well as the disciples when they were praying in the upper room for the Holy Spirit. May we also learn the importance of faithfulness and being responsible in our family life.