Sunday 16th November 2014

33rd in Ordinary Time
10.30am. Sung Mass at St. Pius X Hockley

Celebrant & Preacher, Fr. Bob White

Using our talents wisely…

In Today’s Gospel reading  we listen to one of Jesus’ most significant parables regarding work , set in the context of investments (Matt. 25:14-30). A rich man delegates the management of his wealth to his servants, much as investors in today’s markets do. He gives five talents (one talent = £12,000) to the first servant, two talents to the second, and one talent to the third. Two of the servants earn 100 percent returns by trading with the funds, but the third servant hides the money in the ground and earns nothing. The rich man returns, rewards the two who made money, but severely punishes the servant who did nothing.

The meaning of the parable extends far beyond financial investments. God has given each person a wide variety of gifts, and he expects us to employ those gifts in his service. It is not acceptable merely to put those gifts on a closet shelf and ignore them. Like the three servants, we do not have gifts of the same degree. The return God expects of us is commensurate with the gifts we have been given. The servant who received one talent was not condemned for failing to reach the five-talent goal; he was condemned because he did nothing with what he was given. The gifts we receive from God include skills, abilities, family connections, social positions, education, experiences, and more. The point of the parable is that we are to use whatever we have been given for God’s purposes. The severe consequences to the unproductive servant, far beyond anything triggered by mere business mediocrity, tell us that we are to invest our lives, not waste them.

WE MIGHT ASK OURSELVES: Have we made the best use of all the talents we possess? Are we using them to make a difference in people’s lives? Do we use them for the good of the Church?

Let us be prepared to give a good account of the ways in which we have used our gifts to the Lord of life himself, beginning at Mass today , always rooted in the joyful hope of his coming again!