Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Optional Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Whom does a public servant serve? Whom does a member of the armed services serve? Whom does a server at a restaurant serve? When one patron at a restaurant wants to have the soccer game on the TV, and another patron wants to have the baseball game on the TV, and there is only one TV, whom will the server serve? In the world of espionage, a double agent will pretend to serve one country, but, in reality, serve another. “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). A faithless servant serves now one master, and now another, according to his whims.
You must lay this down in your heart: if you wish to be a faithful servant, when push comes to shove, you can only serve one master. Your service to every other master can only go so far. There have to be limits. Jesus unfolds his meaning in the next verse: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear” (Matthew 6:25). So don’t make any of these things your masters: not your life, not your food, not your drink, not your body, not your clothes. Don’t be a double agent or a triple agent. Don’t be a faithless servant, blown about by whim. Commit yourself and re-commit yourself to the service of the one true God who created heaven and earth and the sea.
Every sin is a lapse in your service to the divine Master, the King of kings and Lord of lords. When you become aware of your error, all you have to do is confess your sin, strive to make amends, and put your trust not in yourself but in the strength of your invincible Master and in the wisdom of His plan for you.