August 30, 2025
A reading from
the holy Gospel according to Matthew 25:14-30
Jesus told his disciples this parable: “A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one—to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’”
The Gospel of the Lord.
August 30, 2025
Saint Who?
Saints Who Abandoned Riches
Saint Katharine Drexel
Foundress († 1955)Feast: March 3
Katharine’s father was a millionaire. Her mother died soon after her birth, and her father remarried two years later. Katharine was always very close to her stepmother. Her parents were devout Catholics who gave to the poor through both financial donations and personal acts of service. Katharine’s beloved father died when she was twenty-seven years old, making her a millionaire heiress.
She had always enjoyed travel, and she had noticed great spiritual and material poverty in the western United States during her trips. When her grieving family decided to go to Rome after her father’s death, they were granted an audience with the pope. Katharine begged Pope Leo XIII to send more missionaries to America, but the pope surprised her with a challenge to do something about it herself.
Katharine accepted that challenge and dedicated her life and her fortune to missionary work. After completing a novitiate in another order, she founded her own order, now known as the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, to serve native Americans and African Americans through schools and orphanages. Katharine did not technically renounce her fortune, but she did unselfishly pour all twelve million dollars of it into the needs of the poor, demonstrating her wisdom as an administrator, her compassionate leadership of her sisters, and her great love of the Eucharist.
Lord Jesus Christ, give us joy as we renounce those things we do not really need, that we might serve the needy.
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