15 November 2026 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’” Matthew 25:21
As the liturgical year draws to its close, the Church looks at work: our daily labour and the work of the Kingdom. Jacob works seven years for Rachel, “and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.” Love transforms labour. Sirach adds: “Stand by your agreement… grow old in your work… trust in the Lord and keep at your job.”
Paul is blunt with Christians in Thessalonica who stopped working because they thought the Lord's return was imminent: “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” Waiting for Christ is never an excuse for idleness; it is the reason for faithful work.
In the parable of the talents, a master entrusts his property to three servants “each according to his ability”. Two trade and double what they received; the third buries his talent out of fear. The master praises the faithful ones: “Well done, good and trustworthy slave… enter into the joy of your master.” The talents are all God's gifts: life, faith, abilities, time, the sacraments. What matters is not how much we have received but whether we have used it for him.
The Church, the Bride, is not a museum guarding a buried treasure; she is a household where every member is given something to invest. On the last Sundays of the year the Lord asks each of us: what have you done with what I gave you?
Theme: “Well done, good and trustworthy servant.”
At the end of the liturgical year the Lord asks what we have done with his gifts: love that makes labour light, faithful work while we wait, talents invested and not buried.
“So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.” Genesis 29:20
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:30
Apply: Offer tomorrow's work to God for someone you love.
“Stand by your agreement and attend to it, and grow old in your work.” Sirach 11:20
“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.” Luke 16:10
Apply: Do a full day's honest work without cutting corners.
“Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise.” Proverbs 6:6
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’” Matthew 25:21
Apply: Offer one skill to your parish this month.
God does not ask what we do not have, but what we have.
May we hear: “Enter into the joy of your master.”
Take-home resolution: List three gifts God has given you and how you will use them before Christmas.
Dear brothers and sisters, our liturgical year is almost over, and today the Lord asks us a simple question: what have you done with what I gave you?
In the first reading Jacob works seven years for Rachel, and the Bible says they seemed only a few days because of his love. When we love, work becomes light. A mother caring for a sick child, a father working abroad for his family: love carries them.
St Paul hears that some Christians stopped working because they thought Jesus was coming tomorrow. He tells them plainly: “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” Waiting for the Lord does not mean sitting idle; it means doing our duty faithfully until he comes.
Then Jesus tells the parable of the talents. A talent was a fortune. Two servants invest and double their master's money; the third buries his out of fear. God has given each of us talents: life, faith, family, skills, time, the sacraments. Fear and laziness bury them. Faith and love invest them.
At the end the Lord will not ask how much we received, but what we did with it. May each of us hear his words: “Well done, good and trustworthy servant; enter into the joy of your master.” Amen.
Children, if your teacher gave you a beautiful pencil box, would you bury it in the ground? No! You would use it!
Jesus told a story about a man who buried the money his master gave him. The master was sad. Two others used it well, and the master was happy.
God gave you gifts too: a good voice, kind hands, a smart mind. Use them for Jesus! Say together: “Jesus, I will use my gifts for you!”
Lord God, you have entrusted us with many gifts. Free us from the fear that buries them, give us faithful hearts to use them for your Kingdom, and let us hear at the end: “Well done, good and trustworthy servant; enter into the joy of your master.” Amen.
On the third Sunday of Qudash Edtha the Church, the house of God, looks at the work of her members. All four readings are about labour done for someone. Jacob serves fourteen years for the woman he loves. Ben Sira tells the believer to stay at his task and trust the Lord for the result. Paul tells the Thessalonians to work quietly and earn their bread, as he himself did. In the Gospel, the master entrusts his property to his servants and returns to ask what they have done with it. The key words are service, faithfulness and accounting: what we do with what has been given to us, and for whom we do it.
Setting.
Jacob has fled from his brother Esau after taking the blessing of the firstborn by deceit (Genesis 27). On the way he saw the ladder at Bethel and received God's promise (28:10–22). Now he has reached Haran, the home of his mother's brother Laban, and met Rachel at the well (29:1–14). He came with nothing in his hands; all he can offer is his work.
Marriage customs of the time help us read the story. A bridegroom normally gave a bride-price to the bride's family. Jacob has no money, so he offers years of labour instead. The bride came to the bridegroom veiled, and the marriage was celebrated with a feast of seven days (compare Judges 14:12).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.” (29:20)
One of the most beautiful sentences in Genesis. Love does not shorten the years; it changes how they are lived. Work done for someone we love does not feel like slavery.
“What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” (29:25)
Jacob's protest sounds like Esau's cry in chapter 27. The man who cheated now knows how it feels. God does not approve Laban's fraud, but he uses it to humble and mature Jacob.
“and he loved Rachel more than Leah. He served Laban for another seven years.” (29:30)
The story does not hide the pain of an unequal love, and the next verse says that the Lord saw that Leah was unloved (29:31). God's care goes to the one who is overlooked.
How the Church reads it.
Many Fathers read this story as a figure of Christ. St Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho, says that Jacob served Laban for both daughters, and that Christ also serves for all whom he wishes to gather (in substance). St Augustine, in his work Against Faustus, saw in Leah, whose name he linked with labour, the active life of work and service, and in Rachel the contemplative life of seeing God; the believer must accept Leah first in order to reach Rachel (in substance). On this Sunday the story teaches that faithful work, even long and hidden, is the way God forms his servants.
Setting.
The Book of Sirach was written in Hebrew in Jerusalem around 180 BC by Jesus son of Eleazar son of Sira, a teacher of wisdom. His grandson translated it into Greek in Egypt some fifty years later, as he tells us in his prologue. The Church received it among the inspired books; its Latin name Ecclesiasticus means “the Church's book”, because it was used so much to teach the faith and good conduct.
Chapter 11 speaks about trust in God against appearances. A poor man may be wise, a rich man may lose everything, and the sinner's success is no reason for envy.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Stand by your agreement and attend to it, and grow old in your work.” (11:20)
Perseverance is the first virtue of the worker. Many begin well; the wise man stays.
“trust in the Lord and keep at your job; for it is easy in the sight of the Lord to make the poor rich suddenly, in an instant.” (11:21)
Trust and work go together. We do the work; God gives the increase.
“at the close of one’s life one’s deeds are revealed.” (11:27)
Ben Sira does not yet speak clearly of life after death, but he knows that the truth of a life appears at its end. The New Testament will bring this to full light in the judgment of Christ, as today's Gospel shows.
How the Church reads it.
The Second Vatican Council teaches that by their work people provide for themselves and their families, serve their neighbours and share in the work of the Creator (Gaudium et Spes 34 and 67). Ben Sira's advice to “grow old in your work” is the Old Testament form of this teaching. The two false sayings of vv. 23–24 warn against the self-sufficiency that Jesus will condemn in the rich fool (Luke 12:16–21).
Setting.
Thessalonica was the chief city of Macedonia, a busy port. Paul founded the Church there on his second missionary journey (Acts 17:1–9) and had to leave quickly. In this letter he corrects some who were saying that “the day of the Lord is already here” (2:2). It seems that some members had stopped working, perhaps because they thought the end was near, perhaps because they preferred to live on the generosity of others.
Paul himself worked with his hands as a tentmaker (Acts 18:3) so as not to be a burden on the young Churches (1 Thessalonians 2:9).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” (3:10)
Paul speaks of those who are unwilling, not of those who are unable. The sick, the old and the poor who cannot work are always the Church's care.
“Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.” (3:13)
After the warning, encouragement. Doing good over a long time is tiring; the community needs to support one another.
“Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers.” (3:15)
Even the discipline of the Church is meant to heal and bring back. The one who is corrected remains a brother.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes this very verse: “Hence work is a duty: ‘If any one will not work, let him not eat’” (CCC 2427, citing 2 Thessalonians 3:10). It adds that work honours the Creator's gifts and that it can be a means of sanctification when united with Christ. St John Paul II, in his encyclical Laborem Exercens (1981), developed this teaching, calling work a key to the whole social question. The early Christian handbook called the Didache (ch. 12) already told communities that a visiting Christian who wished to settle among them should work for his bread and not live idle at their expense (in substance).
Setting.
This is the second of the three closing parables of Jesus' last discourse (Matthew 24–25). The ten bridesmaids teach readiness; the talents teach faithful work while the master is away; the judgment of the nations teaches love for the least. All three answer one question: how should disciples live during the time between Jesus' going and his coming?
A talent was not a coin but a very large weight of silver, about six thousand denarii. Since a denarius was a labourer's daily wage, one talent was the wages of many years. Even the servant who received “only” one talent received a fortune. Later Jewish law held that a man who buried entrusted money was no longer responsible if it was stolen, so the third servant thought he was being careful.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.” (25:15)
God does not give everyone the same gifts, and he does not ask the same results. He asks each person to use what he was given.
“Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” (25:21)
The servant with two talents receives exactly the same praise (v. 23). What counts is faithfulness, not the amount. Five talents are called “a few things” compared with the joy that follows.
“so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” (25:25)
The third servant's picture of his master is false, and his fear comes from that false picture. A person who sees God only as a harsh judge will bury his gifts. A person who knows God's generosity will dare to use them.
“For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” (25:29)
Not a rule of economics but a law of the spiritual life: gifts that are used grow; gifts that are hidden are lost.
How the Church reads it.
St Gregory the Great, preaching on this parable, says that no one may say he has received nothing: everyone has at least one talent, and he must render an account of it (in substance). The Catechism teaches that talents are not distributed equally, and that these differences belong to God's plan, who wills that each receive what he needs from others and that those with particular talents share them (CCC 1936–1937). The parable describes the Church in the time of waiting: every baptised person has received the master's property and is asked to make it bear fruit.
Does God approve of Laban's trick or Jacob's two wives?
No. Genesis tells the history of the patriarchs honestly, with their sins and the customs of their time. The deceit is shown as a wrong that brings pain. God works through imperfect people without approving all they do. The original plan of one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24) is restored by Jesus (Matthew 19:4–6).
Was the master in the parable really harsh?
No. That is how the frightened servant saw him. The master in fact entrusts huge sums, praises generously and shares his joy. Jesus uses the servant's own words to show that fear and a false image of God paralyse a person.
Does Paul's rule mean the unemployed should go hungry?
No. Paul speaks of those unwilling to work, who live on others while able to work. The Church has always cared for the sick, the aged and those who cannot find work (CCC 2427–2436).
In Qudash Edtha the East Syriac tradition contemplates the Church as the house God has built and consecrated. A house is kept alive by the daily work of those who live in it. Today's readings remind the Syro-Malabar faithful that work in field, shop, office, home and parish is part of the Church's worship when it is offered with Christ in the Holy Qurbana. The many Syro-Malabar families who work far from home, in the Gulf and other lands, may see themselves in Jacob, labouring for years for those they love, and in the faithful servants who will hear “enter into the joy of your master”.