25April Meeting Reflection: Talents - Saint Matthew 25:14-31

Gentlemen – all nineteen of y'all - thank you for another excellent evening of edifying conversation and prayer. Another ‘thank you’ to Dave D. for hosting the April meeting of the Fellowship. Thank you to all who brought snacks and beverages - well done! A much appreciated demonstration of hospitality and conviviality true to our Lord's commandments. I realized as we were praying the closing prayer composed by Saint John Henry Newman that it provided a fitting summary of our discussion about how we may better witness to the Gospel in contemporary times. The Prayer avoids polemics while offering a reverent apologetic – a witness by example – that appeals to both minds and hearts.

Dear Jesus, stay with me, and then I shall begin to shine as Thou shinest: so to shine as to be a light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from Thee. None of it will be mine. No merit to me. It will be Thou who shinest through me upon others. O let me thus praise Thee, in the way which Thou dost love best, by shining on all those around me. Give light to them as well as to me; light them with me, through me. Teach me to show forth Thy praise, Thy truth, Thy will. Make me preach Thee without preaching—not by words, but by my example and by the catching force, the sympathetic influence, of what I do—by my visible resemblance to Thy saints, and the evident fullness of the love which my heart bears to Thee. Amen. – Saint John Henry Newman It was humbling and vivifying to hear members finding their life-stories in Scripture, stories exhibiting a strong desire to be more effective witnesses to the Gospel, stories of family, friends, coworkers, and strangers we encounter. Difficult questions and experiences were not met with simplistic answers or platitudes. Our dependence upon God for timely wisdom and His mercy was repeatedly acknowledged. Thank you to Francis for sending an excerpt from Catena Aurea by St .Thomas Aquinas, regarding Saint Matthew 25:14-31. Also, thanks be to Kevin for an excerpt from a David Warren article regarding an important aspect of the conversation.

(T)he lover of truth (in all the embarrassment that may accompany it) will only detect the truthful tone, as one person who is listening apart, among a crowd of the undiscerning. He will be alert to the contrary tone of glibness when the false is revealed, watching for the accretion of irrelevance, almost feeling for the little incidents of deceit, that tell him to beware. How often I have monitored an argument that could have been resolved by a single hard fact, had it ever been spoken, and then admitted. But it was too tasteless to bring up, and so was buried in the blather.

For courage is also necessary, to the truth. It will cost, to speak it. And the one who knows the lies are untrue, may be flinching from prospective pain. He knows, or rather thinks he knows, that he does not have the strength to stand against a falsehood, that is everywhere accepted. He does not have the power to lean, alone, into the gale.

He will let it pass. He is not a great hero; he is not Christ.

Christ can save us. To serve God is to serve the truth, and it is to call upon the divine for assistance, in the moment of insecurity. With men this is impossible, “but with God all things are possible.”

Thank you all, again, for sharing your insights both spoken and written, and for the willingness to offer meaningful personal testimonies "for the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ." - Ephesians 4:12 In Christ, Wendell