Saturday of Week 21 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
St. Monica
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 | Psalm 32:12-13,18-21 | Matthew 25:14-30
The kingdom of Heaven is like a man on his way abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one; each in proportion to his ability. (Matthew 25:14-15)
I used to just nod knowingly upon hearing today’s Gospel, but a thought just struck me: Why would the master hire servants with wildly differing abilities?
The likely answer: He didn’t; they just grew into their roles at different rates, and the last one probably didn’t grow much.
Given how the parable developed, we might guess that the last servant was in fact a dead weight in the master’s household, possibly just doing the bare minimum to stay employed, and leaving the other two to pick up the slack. Similarly, the first servant may have put in more work to polish his abilities than the second, or perhaps he simply started out with more talent. Nevertheless, I think we can agree that both of them were “productive” in their lives.
When it comes to evangelisation, we’re all at different stages of ability. I’m still at a fairly novice level, making up for it with a compulsion to keep working on this blog night after night. In the context of today’s Gospel, I’d rank myself at around the level of the second servant, and perhaps I’ll reach the first-class level someday.
But I’ve also been in the last servant’s shoes before, and it wasn’t pleasant. To be given the Word of God and faith in Christ, and to simply set it aside and live as if it never existed, working to be surrounded by material wealth and pleasures of the flesh, left me feeling empty at Sunday mass. To mouth the words to each hymn without feeling their impact in my soul, to listen to the Gospel without feeling the Good News, to silently count the seconds till the final blessing…to turn the Eucharistic celebration into a chore to be endured each week for the sake of propriety.
I pray that I’ll never go back down that dark tunnel again.
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
Brothers and sisters, if you’re reading this blog, you share my renewed sense of hope and faith in God. Our faith is a jewel not to be hidden underground, but to be “traded” and made to grow in others, perhaps lighting a fire in the hearts of the lukewarm believers, strengthening those who are on the verge of falling away from Mother Church, or bringing new converts to the fold.
More importantly, we need to exercise our abilities constantly, and not just for one hour every Sunday. By living the Gospel life each day, we reinforce it and simultaneously show others the beauty of being children of God. Let us not hide our Catholicity from others; for instance, we need not save praying before meals with the sign of the cross for when we’re surrounded by Catholics.
As St. Paul reminds us today:
if anyone wants to boast, let him boast about the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:31)
Amen.