Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Saturday of the 21st week in ordinary time, August 30, 2025

Delivered by Vanessa Anggono from the Saint Ignatius Church in the Archdiocese of Singapore. 1 Thessalonians 4: 9-11; Rs psalm 98: 1.7-8.9; Matthew 24: 14-30.SHARING YOUR MASTER’S JOY Our meditation today is entitled:Sharing Your Master’s Joy. These are the words taken from the gospel that wehave just heard. The servant who multiplies his talents five and two is praisedby his master, then in return the master brings them into his very own life:Enter and share the joy of your master. What a happy person who is so luckylike those servants. To arrive at the reality of sharinghappiness with the Lord, which is revealed in the master who shares talentswith his servants, a relationship of mutual trust between master and servantsmust be well formed. From here, the attitude of loyalty and obedience derives.This very human and spiritual relationship does not only occur between masterand servant, but generally among fellow human beings. The joy and harmonybetween us is formed because these relationship are well observed in highesteem. Saint Paul found this good way of lifein the Christian community of Thessalonians. He felt no need to teach andfollow them in terms of these relationships. They had made progress in livingtogether because of their obedience to God's word and following well all Hiscommandments. His advice  for them is topreserve all the goodness and not to replace it with something else. We canunderstand that relationship, cooperation of persons and mutual support amongthem are so meaningful. Whereas a bad relationship, especially if it has beenguided by evil intentions, a life together among persons will be difficult andwill only bring suffering. Relationships between people that arewell observed will have a good impact on the sense of belongingness towards oneanother. Everyone treats each other as friend and brother or sister. Joy andsorrow are felt together. Offering the good, sharing from oneself voluntarilyand prioritizing the common interests, are good attitudes of life. The patternof work, service and responsibility direct everyone to do the best and producethe best. Offerings from everyone will surely build a better life together.Whereas, selfishness, undisciplined and disobedient, of course are verydestructive for our living together. Indeed, to be able to share the “joyof your master”: You need to depart from living a good relationship with Godand others, then offer the best of yourself for the preseverance of thisrelationship. Let's pray. In the name of theFather ... O Lord Jesus Christ, we pray that from your teaching today, we maybeable to create good relationships in our life together, and that we may offerthe results of our work as a sign of our active participation in our common life.Hail Mary full of grace ... In the name of the Father ...