Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of (Luke 19: 11-28) in which Jesus tells a parable about a nobleman who gave his servants money to invest while he is away visiting a distant country.

Fr Paul says this parable has been developed out of the same material as Matthew’s parable of the talents. The chief difference though that Luke uses a much smaller sum of money, pounds instead of talents, which is a more realistic figure, because Matthew’s talents are an enormous amount of money.

The sense of the parable for Luke must be read off from the introductory sentence, that they were not to think that the Kingdom was going to come immediately. Therefore, the instructions for apostles in their work of spreading the Good News of the coming of the Kingdom is this: they must persevere because they will be judged and rewarded on the basis of their zeal and their efforts.

The fact that the wicked servant’s money is given to the most successful therefore seems to be a promise of special reward for special zeal in the apostolate.

Mindful of this Gospel, Fr Paul says we might reflect on this question ‘How enthusiastic am I in spreading the good news?’