Safely Preserved, Sadly Wasted

Homily: Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Proverbs 31:10–13, 19–20, 30–31 | 1 Thessalonians 5:1–6 | Matthew 25:14–30

15 November 2026

Fr. Ricky Cañet Montañez, AA

Have you ever noticed that a fire extinguisher is one of those things we buy but hope we never have to use? We keep it in a visible place, make sure it has not expired, and occasionally check whether it is still there. But honestly, how many of us actually bother to learn how to operate one? We are happy knowing we have it, despite not really knowing what to do with it when a fire breaks out!

Safety codes require all structures to have fire extinguishers. Now imagine a shop catching fire and the manager refusing to use the extinguisher because he does not want to empty it! The extinguisher may be successfully preserved, but it fails to accomplish its purpose. Silly and strange, right? However, that image is very similar to what happens in today’s Gospel passage. The third servant does not lose his master’s money. He does not steal it, squander it, or gamble it away. He protects it, buries it, and returns it intact. He did not lose a single peso! If this were an accounting examination, he might even get a perfect score! But why is the master not pleased? It is because the servant preserved what was entrusted to him but failed to fulfill its purpose.

We can lose nothing and still fail. That is one of the more uncomfortable truths of the Gospel. Sometimes, we mistake playing safe for being faithful. We avoid taking risks, postpone doing something good, keep our distance from people who might complicate our lives, and hold back our generosity because we are afraid of losing something. We tell ourselves, “At least I haven’t done anything wrong!” But is avoiding mistakes the same as living faithfully and doing the right thing? 

The third servant explains: “I was afraid” (Matthew 25:25). Fear made him bury his talent. He was so concerned about not losing what he had that he missed the opportunity to make it grow. How many opportunities have we buried because we were afraid? How many relationships could have been healed if we had taken the first step? How many people could have been encouraged if we had spoken a kind word? How many times did we see someone in need but convinced ourselves that somebody else would take care of it? How many times have we kept our gifts, our time, our resources, and even our love to ourselves because giving something away might cost us something? 

The First Reading gives us a beautiful contrast. The worthy woman in Proverbs does not simply keep her hands busy earning a living. Scripture says, “She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy” (Proverbs 31:20). Her hands are not closed around what she possesses. They are open to what others need. She understands that what we receive is not meant to end with us.

There is also a beautiful connection with St. Paul’s exhortation: “Let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:6). We can be awake to our schedules, our responsibilities, our plans, and our ambitions, yet asleep to the needs of the people around us. We can attend Mass, say our prayers, and fulfill our religious obligations, but gradually lose the ability to notice someone who needs our attention, forgiveness, encouragement, or help. The greatest danger is not that we become terrible people, but that we become so comfortable protecting ourselves that we stop becoming generous. We become experts at preserving what we have but beginners at sharing what we are.

My dear friends, God has entrusted each of us with something: time, abilities, resources, relationships, opportunities, and above all, the capacity to love. Not everyone receives the same amount, and the Gospel is not asking us to produce the same results. The servant who received two talents was not expected to produce five. What matters is that we do not bury what we have been given. One day, when we stand before God, perhaps the question will not simply be, “What did we accomplish?” but also, “Whose life became better because we were there? Whom did we help? Whom did we forgive? Whose burden did we make lighter? Whom did we love when it was difficult to love?” 

Let us be careful not to spend our entire lives protecting the gifts God has given us while forgetting to share them. Let us not be so afraid of losing something that we miss the opportunity to become something beautiful for others.  After all, a fire extinguisher is meant to be emptied when lives are in danger. And a Christian life is meant to be poured out when others are in need. What good is a gift we never use, or a love we never give? 

Let us pray that we can stand before God with hands worn out from giving  rather than with hands perfectly clean because we never reached out. It is better to have risked loving and sometimes been hurt than to have lived safely without ever making a difference. Most importantly, let us return to God a life that has been spent in love instead of a life that we simply kept for ourselves.