Let's write about talents, as in Biblical Parables!

On November 14, 2020, on the Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020, this homily was given by John Michalowski, a Jesuit priest (S.J.), who celebrated Mass at Saint Peter's Church, the Jesuit Church, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"What do we do with what we have?"

In response to the "Parable of the Talents", Matthew 25: 14-30,
tells of a master who was preparing to leave his house to travel, and he entrusted his property to his servants. According to the abilities of each man, one servant received five talents, the second received two, and the third received only one. The property entrusted to the three servants was worth 8 talents, where a talent was a significant amount of money. Upon returning home, after a long absence, the master asks his three servants for an account of the talents he entrusted to them. The first and the second servants explain that they each put their talents to work, and have doubled the value of the property with which they were entrusted; each servant was rewarded:

His lord said unto him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."
— Matthew 25:23

The third servant, however, had merely hidden his talent, burying it in the ground, and was punished by his master:

    "What do we do with what we have"? 

Do we see our talents, our time, our resources, and our intelligence as being all mine, or do we see our talents, our time, our resources, and our intelligence as gifts from God?

        If we see them as gifts, then will we heed Jesus' word, when he says, "What you have received as a gift, give as a gift"?  Simply to be thankful is not enough. Our gifts are for service.

        In fact, as Pope Francis has pointed out in his new encyclical, Fratelli tutti, "we is more important than I.  Without the "we",  I would not be. Without the we, I would have neither language nor culture, neither family nor religion. Without the we, I would have died at birth. We are persons, not just individuals. The pandemic reminds us that we are all part of a global community and we need to share our resources and our caring.  As Pope Francis said, COVID19, "has exposed our vulnerability and uncovered those false and superfluous certainties around which we constructed our daily schedules, our projects, our habits and priorities...Amidst this storm, the façade of those stereotypes with which we camouflaged our egos, always worrying about appearances has fallen away, revealing one more the ineluctable and blessed awareness that we are prt of one another, that we are brothers and sisers of one another. (#32*) 

        The hope is that we realize how much we are dependent on others who serve often in poorly paid positions and who do the sometimes monotonous and sometimes hard and dirty work hat allows us to eat, to be cared for when we are old, or sick, or sees to our safety.  The hope is that we come to realize how much we depend on those in other countries, and in our own, who do the hard agricultural labor to see that I can have bananas, blueberries and other fruits, vegetables and other foods year round.

        What do we do with what we have? What do I do with what I have? Note what happens in the parable with the two servants who have used their talents well and brought new talents into being.  The master commends them.  "Well done, good and faithful servant. Since yo were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come; share your master's joy."  Rather than giving them two weeks off, he commends their faithfulness and gives them greater responsibilities. This may seem unfair, until we realize that Jesus' call to us, as disciples, is not about making more money, or become superstars, or welding great power. No, Jesus' call to us is to follow him in bringing more love and caring into the world. This is the talent that he wants us to cultivate. Whether we have a talent for listening to those whom no one listens to, or whether our talent is cooking for others, or whether our talent is creating a  video game about people helping others or following the path of a refugee fleeing violence or climate change, whatever our talent is, the question is do we put it at the service others, to recognize the dignity of those who are part of the "we". This is what the worthy wife in Provers does. She not only cares for her family, but, "She reaches out her had to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy."  It is amazing what love can do - from caring for a foster child to seeing that those served by Roof Above have food to eat and a place to stay.  Sometimes a talent may blossom and many may be served. I watched the Jesuit Refugee Service 40th Anniversary webinar and one person who sent greetings was the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a person whose mission is to coordinate the care for tens of millions of refugees and internally displaced persons.  

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Commissioner Fillipo Grandi shared that over thirty years ago, when he had just gotten out of college, he joined the Jesuit Refugee Service and hat began his career in service to the refugees.  Perhaps God said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities.

        Let us pray today that we might put the "we" of our brothers and sisters before the "me of self.  Let us pray that recognizing our talents and resources, we might place them in service to others. And, one day, may we hear the Lord say to each of us, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Come; share your master's joy." 

#32 Pandemics and Other Calamities in History

True, a worldwide tragedy like the Covid-19 pandemic momentarily revived the sense that we are a global community, all in the same boat, where one person’s problems are the problems of all. Once more we realized that no one is saved alone; we can only be saved together. As I said in those days, “the storm has exposed our vulnerability and uncovered those false and superfluous certainties around which we constructed our daily schedules, our projects, our habits and priorities… Amid this storm, the façade of those stereotypes with which we camouflaged our egos, always worrying about appearances, has fallen away, revealing once more the ineluctable and blessed awareness that we are part of one another, that we are brothers and sisters of one another”