Working with the Word

Focusing the Gospel

Key words and phrases: Father is pleased to give you, inexhaustible treasure, there also will your heart be, servant … doing so.

To the point: What, really, does the Father give us? What is the treasure that is to claim our hearts? The "inexhaustible treasure in heaven" the Father gives us is the Son (the Master). Our hearts must lie with the Son, for he is our Treasure. Those servants who are formed by this Treasure abide by the Son's expectations and seek to carry them out. Faithful servants do as the Son would do—their actions follow their heart.

Connecting the Gospel …

... to the first reading: The "holy children of the good" were putting God's plan into effect just as the "faithful and prudent steward" in the Gospel was putting into effect the Master's will.

... to experience: There are many treasures found in this life, for example, family, home, community, friendship, integrity. Good as these are, they are nonetheless exhaustible. What the Father offers us is an inexhaustible Treasure: the fullness of the Life of the risen Lord.

**From Saint Louis University