Our People

In First Century Jerusalem, a talent was a measure of weight.

Especially a measure of weight for precious metals.

It varied in different countries, but it was always a heavy weight.

In Jerusalem it was 130 pounds.

One talent of gold today would be worth about $2 Million.

But we no longer think of talent as a measure of weight.

In normal usage today, a talent is a natural ability or skill.

We might have a talent for singing or playing a musical instrument.

Or for writing, or inventing, or hitting a baseball.

Actually, Jesus's parable is how the word talent got its new meaning.

At the deeper level of the parable, Jesus wasn't taking about money or gold.

Listeners knew that he was talking about the natural gifts that have been given to us.

The skills and the abilities.

His analogy was so powerful that we adopted that meaning as the primary meaning of the word.

In the sense of measures of gold, five talents was a lot—about $10 Million worth.

But in the sense of natural abilities and skills, five is a pretty small number.

If we're thinking of only major, unique, exceptional skills and abilities, five may be a lot.

But we all have dozens of more common natural human skills.

More common—taken for granted—but still very valuable.

We're called to share all those talents.

To not bury them, but to put them to use in service to others.

So that they can be multiplied.

At baptism each of us was anointed priest, prophet and king.

Our responsibility as members of the general priesthood is to actively participate in the Mass.

Our responsibility as prophets is to spread the Good News—to evangelize.

Our responsibility as kings and queens is to tend to the needs of our people.

But who are our people?

Certainly our inner circle.

Our spouses, our children, our families, our circle of friends.

Our neighbors.

But like the ripples from a pebble tossed into a still pond, the circle just keeps growing.

Until it encompasses everyone; all our neighbors.

The two Great Commandments sum up our obligation to our neighbors.

We are to love God with all our being, and love our neighbor as ourselves.

That's why God gave us all the talents that we have.

To serve Him and to serve others.

We've all heard of the three T's that we're called to share with our neighbor.

Our time, our talent and our treasure.

The three overlap a bit.

If we're sharing our talent, we're also sharing our time.

If we're sharing our treasure, we're sharing the product of our time and talent.

If we're sharing our time, we're probably using some talent,

And giving up some opportunity to acquire more treasure.

It seems we most often hear of these three T's in conjunction with a request for money.

A request to share our treasure.

But today, we're most specifically called to share our talent.

And to share it more broadly.

There's great need among our people.

And there's great opportunity for every one of us to help.

For some of us sharing our talents more broadly is an easy, natural ability.

You might say some of us have a talent for it.

For others of us, it can seem like a difficult call to answer.

How do I get started?

Where should I go?
What should I do?

Do I really have a talent to offer?

Fortunately, if we need some guidance, our Church can help us find opportunities to serve.

There are many opportunities available right here in our parish.

And many more through our affiliated organizations like Catholic Charities.

We all have so much talent to share.

We might share one of our rare or exceptional talents.

We might be a master advocate who can speak for those who have no voice.

Or a highly skilled doctor who can give relief to the suffering in a free clinic.

But our sharing and our service doesn't have to involve a rare or exceptional skill.

We can share our talent for speaking English.

We can share our skill at pushing a wheelchair.

We can share our natural talent for smiling or making small talk.

Or making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

We all have different numbers and different levels of talents.

We may have five times more than someone else.

And some other person may have twice as many as us.

But we all have many.

And we're all called to share them.

Of course, we do all share them; at least with those in our inner circle.

But there's even more to gain by expanding that circle.

By including those beyond our usual range.

Reaching out as Jesus once told us, 
To serve those who can never possibly pay us back.

And when we expand out, we're not only kings and queens attending to our people.
We're also prophets, evangelizing  through our actions.

As we see from our own experience.

And as hear from others who offer their talents in service.

The old clichés are really true.
That's why they've been repeated so often that they've become clichés.

You really do get a lot more out of it than you put in.

It really is better to give than to receive.

33rd Sunday of  Ordinary Time

Mt 25:14-40      Read this Scripture @usccb.org