Today’s Gospel was the parable of the talents (Mt
25:14-30). For many years that Gospel
bothered me, for I know I am greatly blessed, and I wondered was I yielding
enough fruit. The homily at today’s mass
and meditations in The Better Part helped frame that parable a bit differently
for me.
First, note that the talents were given by the master in
proportion to the servant’s ability. So,
if we apply our abilities there should be no worry about how much we are
yielding --- like I worried. Second, the
master set the standard; the one given two yielded two more; the one given five
yielded five more. The Master, God, sets
the standard; He does His share, and we need to do ours. What should we do with the talents He gave
us? All we need do is read the Gospels
to see His standards, and do likewise.
He showed us how to live.
A key third point is that the fruit we yield is not for
ourselves. The servant who was chastised
was the one who was given one talent and kept it. He yielded no fruit. In other words, we would say he was selfish
AND he didn’t trust God. This is the guy
who doesn’t study Scripture or pray, because he is busy “with more important
things” --- he doesn’t know God or His examples of how to live, how to love, or
how to yield fruit from his life ---- to live his life so that it mattered to
the world that he was alive. So often
that servant feels so alone. That
servant lived his life focused only on himself.
Sadly, how many we see about us being just like him, and
even more sadly, if we see one of those persons in the mirror.
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