REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

Let us invest all our talents while we have time!

Fr. James McTavish FMVD

In the gospel today we have the parable of the talents where the master going on a journey gives out talents to his servants. To one he gave five talents, to another, two; to a third, one. The first two men go away and immediately trade with their talents and manage to double them. They take the risk and the responsibility for what they have received. How beautiful must have been their relationship with the master. They trusted in him enough to risk investing the money received. They wanted to serve him and please him. When the master returns he is delighted with these two servants. He tells them both, “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.” The servants here are responsible for all the gifts they have received. In a similar way each Christian is called to be responsible for the gifts and talents received. At the end of our lives each of us will be accountable for how we have invested our talents.

The third servant who has received one talent is not responsible. He will not take the risk, out of love, to invest. He is afraid and buries the talent. When he returns the talent later the master becomes very angry – “You wicked and lazy servant!” The servant tries to explain why he did not invest what he had received, saying that he was afraid of the master. The master will not accept this excuse. The drama of the gospel of today is that we can be sensible investors in this short earthly life or we can refuse the challenge to invest the talents we have received. Are you investing your talents or are you burying them? We can have the attitude of the first servants who invest their lives out of love. When we invest our lives in loving others we know that there will be a return even if we don’t always see it immediately. There is a real joy in investing in the lives of others and here we can share in the master’s joy. There is an interesting dynamism present here. The master says, “Take the talent from him who has not invested 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.” We are either in the dynamism or not. We are either growing in love or diminishing. To those who do not invest in the Kingdom the little joy they have is soon lost.

Why did the third servant not respond? Why did he not assume the responsibility of investing for the Kingdom? Why do many not respond to God’s call to invest in the Kingdom? The real drama is that there are many investors who know that they are not investing sensibly. They know what they have to do, they realize their happiness is at stake, even their very salvation and that of many others. They know many things but feel paralyzed when it comes to change. That is why St Paul exhorts all to be awake, to be sober, to not become complacent in front of the appeal of the Good News, to not fall asleep. In the medical world a person who does not react is said to be in a coma or to be unconscious. We can remain unconscious, so that the light of the Word does not make us react. St. Paul reminds us that the day of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night which is a way of saying time is short. It is important in front of the Word of God to not let our hearts and minds be hardened but to strive always to be open to the Good News. Doing this we can help many people. We will not go far wrong investing our talents in the lives of others. A sure return awaits those wise investors who invest their time, energy and talents for the Kingdom.

Let us ask for the grace to be wise investors, to help each other discover all our talents, especially the buried ones, to take the risk out of live to invest our lives in doing good, while there is still time.