Tag: parable of the talents

The Parable of the Talents | Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “Our soul waits for the LORD, who is our help and our shield, For in him our hearts rejoice; in his holy name we trust. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 25:14-30)

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one–to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.”

“It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus,” Saint Paul says, “who became for us wisdom from God.” Not many of us, he says, are wise by human standards but instead we owe everything to God so should boast not in our own accomplishment but in the Lord. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the talents, emphasizing sharing in the master’s joy when those he has given talents to invest them in small matters and see their value grow. The characters in the parable say to the master, “See, I have made more.” The servant who buries the talent is pitiable because everybody has experienced a sense of unworthiness before the Lord, but it is the same Lord who pours grace upon us to give us courage to make a new start. The French Catholic writer Leon Bloy said: “The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint.” The talents, or graces, God gives us help us in this life know his joy and at the same time prepare us for the joy of eternal life in his presence. What do we imagine ourselves saying to the Lord when we meet him face to face?

God, give me wisdom through Jesus Christ your Son to recognize the talents you give me and to work with them well so that I can share in your joy. It is difficult to compare the graces others receive with my own, if I even recognize them. Yet, you draw from a supply of grace whose source is endless. The wisdom I receive is your wisdom; the lovingkindness I express is yours; the hope for sanctification and redemption, yours. Help me trust that these talents you give me grow according to my ability as I seek to know and do your will. Let your eyes be upon me, Lord.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 25:14-30)

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one—to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.”

Today’s Gospel contains the well-known parable of the talents, which Jesus shares with his disciples to teach them about the importance of using their God-given gifts and resources wisely and faithfully. The first and second servants do well in using God’s gifts; the third, does not do well. While the first two servants were faithful stewards, the third acted out of fear and hid his talents. It’s hard not to look with pity on the third servant. His fear paralyzed him. Yet, it was not success or profit the master sought in entrusting his possessions to the servants but an open and faithful trust in him, a share in his joy.

God, help me choose to receive and use your gifts not out of servile fear but out of love in response to love. You are the giver of all good things, and I strive to use your gifts faithfully but tend toward disuse or misuse of them. Because your love and generosity extend boundlessly beyond my imagination, teach me to be faithful to you, living in your love and unafraid of the outcome. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says of those animated by God’s gift of spiritual freedom in charity “[they] no longer stand before God as a slave, in servile fear, or as a mercenary looking for wages, but as a son responding to the love of him who “first loved us.”

From the Gospel acclamation: “I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” Lord, I want to be your good and faithful servant. Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, bring me into the presence of Jesus your Son.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.