Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash
Here we are again, already approaching the end of another year.
A year we’ll well remember for
the rest of our lives.
(Although next year’s virus waves
might actually be worse.)
Next Sunday will be the Feast of
Christ the King.
The last Sunday of the liturgical year (a bit ahead of our secular year.)
So, recent Scripture readings have been focusing on the end times.
The Second Coming, the Last
Judgement.
Last week we heard of the 5 wise
and 5 foolish virgins.
The foolish ones neglectfully let
their lamps go out,
And missed their chance to enter
into the feast.
So we’re told to stay alert! Be prepared!
Because we know not when
the Master will return.
Today Paul tells us we’re
children of the light.
Because we see what’s coming –
We know
Jesus is coming again.
We know we don't know when he's coming.
We know to stay prepared.
And then we have Jesus’ story of
the talents.
A talent was a unit of weight—a
very heavy unit.
Scholars disagree on exactly how heavy,But probably around 75 pounds.
So just one talent of gold was a
sizable fortune.
Today, it would be worth around $2
Million.
Jesus’ audience understood that He was using the talent figuratively,
To represent our immensely valuable and precious interior assets.
The same meaning our modern language has adopted from his story.
Talents are those personal qualities
within ourselves.
Assets not earned, but given—entrusted—to us at birth.
Just as the Master entrusted that
fortune of gold to his servants.
And like that Master, Jesus expects
a return on those assets.
Each of us has been given a
variety of talents.
More than five.
Some fairly common, some rather
rare.
We’re called to use and develop
all of them.
We may have special talents for communication—
Engaging with other people.
Or for understanding complex,
abstract ideas, like higher math.
Or for critical thinking and
analysis.
Or for physical endurance or
coordination.
Those innate God-given talents enable
us
To care for ourselves and family,
build a career, or do good works.
They might serve as our basis
For doing detailed research or
engineering or scientific study.
For working with our hands or our
minds or both.
We may have talents that can make
us great athletes or entertainers.
Or doctors or managers or organizers.
Or tradesmen or teachers or
farmers or housekeepers.
Or technicians or analysts.
Or poets, or good parents, or a
hundred other things.
Our talents enable us to care for
ourselves and our families.
But they’re not just for our own
benefit.
They’re meant to be for the
benefit of all those around us.
To be shared, as by that highly
praised wife in our first reading today.
Devoting her many talents for the
benefit of herself and her family.
But also using them to reach out
to the poor and the needy.
Ultimately, our talents are meant
to be used for God.
We are his hands
and feet and voice in this physical world.
We’re the vehicles through which
he goes to others, touches others.
This end-of-year is a good time
to step back.
Ask ourselves, What are my
talents?
Make a mental list or a written
list.
Am I sharing all my talents?
Have I buried any?
Am I producing a return for my
Master?
Or am I an unprofitable
servant?
As we prepare for a new year,
With our list of talents in mind,
or in hand.
We can first thank God for the
gift of those talents.
And then commit that we won’t neglect
any of them.
That we won’t let our lamps go
out.
That we’ll stay alert—ready for
that end time that is certainly coming.
Whether our personal end time or
the whole world’s end time.
When we’ll stand facing Jesus and
be asked for an accounting.
