Everything is Grace

32nd Week in Ordinary Time - Tuesday (13 November 2018)

Titus 2:1-8,11-14. Psalm 37. Luke 17:7-10.

“We are useless servants: we have done no more than our duty.”

The movie Amadeus was quite popular a few years ago, whose theme is a theological issue. The film is about a confession. Salieri, a contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and also a composer, confesses that he is probably the cause of Mozart’s death. He wanted to murder him because there was something he never had understood: How was it possible that Mozart, according to Salieri, a promiscuous, vulgar and superficial person, was able to write such beautiful music so effortlessly? All Mozart had to do was sit down and the most magnificent melodies flowed from his pen.

And he, Salieri, a serious man who had dedicated his whole life to God and lived an almost ascetic life, had such difficulty in getting music on paper.

The issue is about that total gratuitousness of God’s gifts that Jesus speaks of in today's gospel: “When you have done all you have been told to do, say, ‘We are useless servants; we have done no more than our duty.’”

I think some of us might have the problem of Salieri. We too have questions and some doubts like he had. Why is God good to bad people? Why doesn't God punish the wicked? Why do evil persons thrive and do well in life? Bad people are also happy and have many blessings: how is this possible?

The above questions try to fit God into our human image. But let us clearly state that God is beyond our thoughts and thinking. He is not petty-minded, He cannot be controlled by our good or bad lives. He does not punish anyone. God is always good. His love does not depend on the worthiness or unworthiness of the objects. He makes the sun shine both on the just and unjust, He sends rain to the just and the unjust. God's love has no boundaries or conditions. He gives us everything freely, gratuitously.

All we can do comes from God. All is given, everything is gratuitous, everything is grace. Where does the poet get his words, the painter his colours, the architect his shapes, the sculptor his forms, the doctor his healing power, the mechanic his skill, the computer programmer his creativity, and the author his inspiration, if not from God?

Even after all we might have done and all the awards we might have received, if we are honest about ourselves we will have to admit that “We are useless servants; we have done no more than our duty.” Haven't we?