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Luke 17:7-10
But which of
you having a servant ploughing, or feeding cattle, will say to him,
when he is come from the field: Immediately go, sit down to meat: And
will not rather say to him: Make ready my supper, and gird thyself, and
serve me, whilst I eat and drink, and afterwards thou shalt eat and
drink? Doth he thank that servant, for doing the things which he
commanded him? I think not. So you also, when you shall have done all
these things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants;
we have done that which we ought to do.
Commentary
This parable
stresses the importance of remembering that we can't work our way into
Heaven, that God doesn't need our offerings, and that God owes us
nothing. Our sharing in His Kingdom is solely by His grace, and we are
to be grateful for whatever He gives us --- which will always be in
accordance with His love and mercy.
The Douay-Rheims footnote explains why the word "unprofitable"
is used here: "Because our service is of no profit to our master; and
he justly claims it as our bounden duty. But though we are unprofitable
to him, our serving him is not unprofitable to us; for he is pleased to
give by his grace a value to our good works, which, in consequence of
his promise, entitles them to an eternal reward."
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