20 November 2019
Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
The faithful servants were all rewarded greatly in the end for their efforts in increasing their Master’s wealth. Yet we can easily forget that this reward was not part of their initial instructions. The Master merely gave them money and said “engage in trade with these until I return” (Lk. 19:13). The servants who loved the Master engaged in trade without any promise of reward beyond the success itself.
We have been promised Heaven, but we get nearer to the idea of it if we act like the faithful servants. If we treat Heaven like a cookie we get for being good, we miss the point. The joy of Heaven is the success itself. The success of knowing that we have become children of God, the success of being part of the communion of saints, the success of being with God in a final and inseparable way. In Heaven, we are not given something radically new. What we are is glorified. Seek the success of a life well-lived, the life of a child of God, and Heaven will come quite naturally.