Daily Catholic Lectio
Wed, 19 November ‘25
Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday
2 Maccabees 7:1, 20-31. Luke 19:11-28
“Behold, Your Mina”
Today’s liturgy places before us a striking contrast: the steadfast courage of the mother and her seven sons in 2 Maccabees on one side, and the hesitant, fearful servant in Luke 19 on the other. At the heart of both readings lies one invitation: What do you do with what God has entrusted to you?
In Luke’s Gospel, the third servant stands before his master and says, “Behold, your mina!” His words reveal more than a return of the gift; they expose the state of his heart. He gives back what he received, untouched, unused, and untransformed.
Scripture today invites us to hear this phrase as a mirror held to our own discipleship.
1. A distorted understanding of the Master
The servant knows his master is demanding, but he stops there. His knowledge does not mature into action. True understanding of God always leads to deeper trust and courageous obedience.
The mother of the seven sons in the first reading shows the opposite: she knows God as the giver of life, the keeper of promises, the Lord of resurrection. Her knowledge blossoms into heroic faith. She acts according to what she believes.
Faith becomes fruitful only when what we know of God is lived before God.
2. Settling for the easy instead of choosing the right
The servant wraps the mina in a cloth. It is the simplest, safest, least demanding option. But discipleship is never shaped by ease; it is shaped by fidelity.
We often face this same tension:
– The right thing is demanding.
– The easy thing asks nothing.
Whether it is prayer, forgiveness, justice, or service, the path of Christ rarely aligns with convenience. The mina in the cloth symbolizes every opportunity we prevent from growing because doing the right thing costs effort, time, or personal discomfort.
The faithful servants in the parable choose the right, not the easy—and their lives multiply grace.
3. Fear that blinds us to new possibilities
The third servant’s fear becomes paralysis. He imagines only loss, never gain. He foresees risk but not opportunity. His fear makes him forget even the simplest option available: depositing the mina for interest.
In contrast, the martyrs of Maccabees choose a loss that becomes eternal gain. Their courage opens the horizon of hope. Fear cannot imprison a heart rooted in God.
The parable warns us: when fear rules us, faith cannot move us. Fear blinds us to new initiatives, creative ministries, bolder discipleship, and fresh ways of witnessing to Christ in the world.
A lesson for disciples
Luke does not present this as a direct image of the Kingdom but as a teaching for disciples on how to live while the Master is away. Each baptised person has received a “mina”: a gift, a responsibility, a mission.
What does the Lord find when He returns?
Do we say, “Here is your mina,” unchanged? Or do we offer Him a life that has grown in love, stretched in service, risked generosity, and multiplied hope?
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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