From our Pastor
https://stmarystcatherine.org/wp-content/themes/osmosis/images/empty/thumbnail.jpg 150 150 Charlestown Catholic Collaborative Charlestown Catholic Collaborative https://stmarystcatherine.org/wp-content/themes/osmosis/images/empty/thumbnail.jpgAnd all I ever have to be is what You’ve made me.
Any more or less would be a step out of Your plan.
As You daily recreate me, help me always keep in mind
that I only have to do what I can find,
and all I ever have to be… is what You’ve made me.
From All I ever have to be written by Gary Chapman
Sometimes we take for granted what each of us gives to the world or has the capacity to. It’s so easy for us to fall into the trap of comparing ourselves to others who might have gifts or skills that seem to be more attractive, more valuable, or more helpful. As adults we’re even harder on ourselves, as we see others excel in A or B and we seem to fail, though we may excel in C or D.
St. Paul understood that tendency when he writes about the parts of the body in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 12:14–26) and Jesus illustrates it perfectly in today’s Gospel in the story of the talents (He uses the term in two ways, because a talent was also considered a monetary term). God has given us gifts- differently, not more or less to make something extraordinary come about, and it may seem so simple, but maybe that’s the point behind it all. I love how St. Paul writes how the Church is comprised of living stones and we build each other up- we need one another. It’s not always the quantity, it’s the quality that’s the point.
There are so many out there who may think they are not worthy or have nothing to give, but the truth is it is God who gives us what we need and makes us worthy, not any of us or this world. May we rejoice in a God who loves us as we are and calls us to develop and share His gifts with one another and the world. The world needs you.
![](https://stmarystcatherine.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/11-19-2023-thxprayer.png)
Lord, we thank you for the goodness of our people and for the spirit of justice that fills this nation. We thank you for the beauty and fullness of the land and the challenge of the cities. We thank y for our rest, for one another, and for our homes. We thank you, Lord; accept our thanksgiving on this day. We pray and give thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer taken from the Catholic Household Blessings, Revised Edition, Copyright 2007, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. All rights reserved.