INTRODUCTION
We are one step away from this liturgical year A. The reminds do not only remind us of the end of the liturgical year but most importantly, they point our attention to the end of all things and why we must seize every opportunity to get ourselves ready. Particularly on this Sunday is the emphasis that God did not create anyone of us empty. We are all endowed with natural talents that must be discovered and invested for the glory of God and for our good and the good of other. This so pertinent because every God-given gift to us must be accounted for whether used or buried. There is reward for anyone who makes use of his/her gift; at the hour of death the Lord will say: “Well done, my good and faithful servant! Come and share the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21).
FIRST READING: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
The Book of Proverbs is characterized by practical teachings about life. Our first reading underlines the qualities of a woman worthy to be called a wife. She is the one who commits herself to carrying out all her household duties with willing hands (she is never afraid of her fixed nails nor selective in her domestic duties because in them lies her beauty). She extents her love and generosity to the poor and the needy. In other words, she is a woman of virtue both at home and outside. Such a woman is more beautiful and more costly than the costliest jewelry; for her beauty and value does not come from the external but from the heart.
Writing in a cultural milieu which spoke volumes about men and had little or nothing to say about women, the Sacred Author highlights the internal beauty that could inhabit a feminine figure; the capacity of dynamism and ingenuity. Notwithstanding, the author criticizes the ‘artificiality’ that could sometimes characterize the lifestyle and aspiration of many. Those who spend time seeking for external beauty and charming look but do not exhibit virtues are simply deceitful, empty and vain (to look good is a wonderful thing but it is more wonderful to be good). They do not represent the inherent beauty of a woman.
In a general sense of it, the reading is an invitation to all to be as diligent, creative and industrious as a loyal, faithful wife in the use of our God-given gifts.
The message of our first reading blends with the Gospel in the use of God-given talent to produce something good and profitable.
SECOND READING: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 When the Thessalonians first accepted the Christian Faith, they thought that their imitation of Jesus’ death and Resurrection would be a short-term experience. Everyone, including Paul, was certain that Jesus’ Second Coming was very near. As time went on without that Coming, the Thessalonian Church seethed with rumors about its exact date. People were more concerned with “times and seasons” of Christ’s second coming than with living their Faith. Paul assures his readers that it’s stupid to worry about the “day of the Lord” (v 2). Instead of expecting an imminent Parousia, Christians should always “stay alert and sober,” (v 6), doing their daily duties faithfully. “We belong neither to darkness nor to night; therefore, let us not be asleep like the rest, but awake and sober!” (vv 5-6). Paul means that our wholehearted dedication to the responsibilities of Christian living will earn for us the Lord’s praise at the Final Judgment. Paul reminds us that the children of light are destined, not for wrath, but for salvation when the Lord comes. He warns us that the Day of the Lord will come “like a thief in the night” (v 4), when we least expect it. Thus, we should keep awake and be sober, encouraging and building each other up as we wait for the “Day of the Lord.” Only those who live each day to the fullest will be ready when Jesus’ special Day arrives (Fr. Anthony Kadavil).
GOSPEL: Matthew 25: 14-30
Today’s Gospel is part of the corpus of Jesus’s eschatological teaching. In this twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew is found the teachings about the Wise and Foolish Virgins, the Talents, and the Last Judgment which are selected respectively for the last three Sundays of this liturgical year. There main focus is on the eschatos (the end of the world and the end of our lives). Matthew’s intention was to catechize the early Christian community on the need to be productive in faith; for it is only when faith is capable of bearing fruit that it will enjoy the blessings of the Lord especially as He comes to reward the deeds of men. In a more strict manner, the talent is life itself. Every life is meant to be meaningful not just for the self but for others. Thus, any life that is not able to influence other lives positively is simply no life. And since the human life has an imprint of God’s presence, then it must be used to produce fruit for the glory of the One and the Same God and for the salvation of souls.
Today’s parable of the talent shows the variation of gifts given to individuals according to their capacities. However, no gift is greater than the other. Every gift is meaningful and great in that which it is meant for.
The master of the servants gave out his talents to them in five, two, and one. A talent was worth between five and six thousand denarii — or about 15 years’ wages for a simple day laborer. Even one talent could be worth more than a laborer would earn in a lifetime. This simply means that even the servant who received the one talent had an enormous lifetime gift. The problem of the one talent servant is not the amount he received but laziness (inability to invest), lack of creativity (not knowing how to invest) jealousy (measuring his gift with that of others), and wickedness (better to bury it so that the other will not benefit from the interest).
DRAWING LESSONS FROM THE PARABLE
1. It tells us that God gives men differing gifts. One man received five talents, another two, and another one. It is not a man’s talent, which matters; what matters is how he uses it. God never demands from a man abilities which he has not got; but he does demand that a man should use to the full the abilities which he does possess. Men are not equal in talent; but men can be equal in effort. The parable tells us that whatever talent we have, little or great, we must lay it at the service of God.
2. It tells us that the reward of work well done is still more work to do. The two servants who had done well are not told to lean back and rest on their oars because they have done well. They are given greater tasks and greater responsibilities in the work of the master.
3. It tells us that the man who is punished is the man who will not try. The man with the one talent did not lose his talent; he simply did nothing with it. Even if he had adventured with it and lost it, it would have been better than to do nothing at all. It is always a temptation for the one talent man to say, “I have so small a talent and I can do so little with it. It is not worth while to try, for all the contribution I can make.” The condemnation is for the man who, having even one talent, will not try to use it, and will not risk it for the common good.
4. It lays down a rule of life which is universally true. It tells us that to him who has more will be given, and he who has not will lose even what he has. The meaning is this. If a man has a talent and exercises it, he is progressively able to do more with it. But, if he has a talent and fails to exercise it, he will inevitably lose it. If we have some proficiency at a game or an art, if we have some gift for doing something, the more we exercise that proficiency and that gift, the harder the work and the bigger the task we will be able to tackle. Whereas, if we fail to use it, we lose it. That is equally true of playing golf or playing the piano, or singing songs or writing sermons, of carving wood or thinking out ideas. It is the lesson of life that the only way to keep a gift is to use it in the service of God and in the service of our fellow-men. (William Barkley).
The parable projects God as having entrusted His entire property (i.e. the world) to His servants (i.e. us), trusting that we will be responsible, prudent and thoughtful stewards of these riches. At the same time, the parable equally challenges us in a serious manner to always take the risk for God. Infact it should serve as a reminder that Christian vocation is not limited to the credo that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour. The meaning of Christian vocation lies in carrying on Jesus’ mission of love and forgiveness in our world marked with the culture of death.
To use the God-given talent involves risk. How is it possible to sow the seed of faith in an environment that abhors faith? It is quite difficult but God is aware of the difficulty. He is the first to take the greatest risk of sending His only Son to a world of sin and corruption. Thus He encourages us to accept the risks involved and to work for His glory and for the salvation of souls. Often, many of us show signs of fear of being eternally condemned to Hell, so we take the path of burying the faith we have received. In other words, we tend to safeguard it so as not to lose it. But faith is not meant to be safeguarded. It must be invested. It is meant to be extended to others despite the risk involved.
It is like those who presume that establishing relationships is always risky, and that showing love to another might mean having to change our actions to meet the needs of the other. Then we forget that risk taking is inevitable in relationships, and meeting the needs of others is not only essential, but equally makes us more human.
Therefore, Christian policy is not a take-no-chance policy. Every given chance is meant to produce fruit of the faith and to win souls.This is the principle that inspired Pope St. John XXIII as he looked forward to a new dawn in the life of the Church. As he took the bold step to reform the Church through the Second Vatican Council, he made it known we were not put on earth to guard a museum, but to produce new spiritual wealth from the talents God has placed under our stewardship (cf. Letter by the Lay Commission on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy, 1984, p. 4).
LIFE MESSAGE
1) We need to trust God enough to make use of the gifts and abilities we have been given. Some of us are, clearly, very gifted with valuable abilities, but there is no one, absolutely no one, who can say he has been gifted with nothing. We may be especially talented in teaching children, or cooking meals, or repairing homes, or programming computers. So we should ask ourselves how we are using our particular gifts in the service of our Christian community and the wider society. Why not follow the example of people who use their God-given talents the best way possible, like, for instance, nursing assistants who take great pride in keeping their patients clean and comfortable, or carpenters who gain enormous satisfaction from building quality homes, or teachers who find joy in the discoveries of the classroom, or attorneys who keep the goal of justice at the very center of their practices?
2) We need to make use of our talents in our parish. God calls us to live in a world of abundance by taking risks and being generous. In addition to our homes and families, the best place to do this is in our parish. This means that we should be always willing to share our abilities in creative worship in the Church and innovative educational events in the Sunday school. We can fulfill the needs we will find right in our parish: feeding the hungry, visiting the sick or the elderly, housing the homeless, and welcoming strangers in our midst. We need to make the bold assumption that there’s going to be a demand for every one of our talents in our parish community. We should step out, with confidence, believing that every God-given gift we have is going to be exceedingly useful and fruitful!
3) We need to “trade” with our talent of Christian Faith: All of us in the Church today have received at least one talent. We have received the gift of Faith. Our responsibility as men and women of Faith is not just to preserve and “keep” the Faith. We need to work with it. We need to offer it to the men and women of our times. Unless we do this, we stand in danger of losing the Faith just as the third servant lost his talent. The way to preserve the Faith, or any other talent that God has given us, is to put it to work and help it bear fruit. (Fr. Anthony Kadavil).
4). It is interesting to ask ourselves today; what can we contribute to heal our world that is bleeding in pain? It is no more a question of natural catastrophes but human catastrophes. We are all suffering from uncontrolled human exploitation of our common home. While we pray for God’s healing, we must also change our lifestyle and use the inherent gifts that God has given to us to rebuilding our world and giving meaning to the life of persons who are most victimized by the catastrophes caused by unguarded actions and exploitation by humans.
PRAYER
Grant us we pray, O Lord our God, the constant gladness of being devoted to you, for it is full and lasting happiness to serve with constancy the author of all that is good. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
PAX VOBIS!
