Unprofitable servants

“When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” (Lk 17: 10)

It is about reward and it is about gratitude: reward, because humility is more profitable in the end than pride, and gratitude, because whatever we have, we receive from God: our nature, talents, gifts and abilities. When we do things because of our love for God, we see the smallness of our words and deeds; pure gift is always unconditional. Like in marriage: “Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives, but loves that partner for the partner’s own sake, content to be able to enrich the other with the gift of himself.” (HV 9)

“Amen, I say to you: Whatever you did for one of the least of my brethren, you did it for me, says the Lord.” (Communion Antiphon)