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19 Nov 2017 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

“It’s also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave 5,000 dollars, to another 2,000, to a third 1,000, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master’s investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master’s money. “After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given 5,000 dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’ “The servant with the 2,000 showed how he also had doubled his master’s investment. His master commended him: ‘Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.’ “The servant given 1,000 said, ‘Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.’ “The master was furious. ‘That’s a terrible way to live! It’s criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest. “ ‘Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this “play-it-safe” who won’t go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness' ” (from Matthew 25). From A New Message 4 Next Week (actapublications.com) based on The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2013).

parable of the talents

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Exploring the word

15 Nov 2020 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Ask anyone to name some religious obligations, and you will likely hear “church attendance” high on the list. Depending on that person’s denominational persuasion, the duty to pray, the reception of sacraments, keeping the Ten Commandments, and financial support of the ministry of the church may also rate early spots in the recitation. Fewer respondents will mention the obligation to love God and one’s neighbor as oneself. An even smaller number may remember the prophetic call to do justice and to live in peace. But what about the summons to become the person God created each of us to be? What about fulfilling our purpose and potential, what used to be identified as discovering our vocation? It’s not the simple shell game we once imagined it was: that God has hidden a special mission in each of our hearts and it is up to us to uncover and enact it. It smacks too much of predestination and also serves as a copout to imagine that a rare few of us are called to heroic deeds, great sacrifice, or remarkable holiness while the rest of us will find only normal life assigned to us like a third-rate fortune in our particular cookie. What is more consistent with the biblical record is that each of us, no matter how mundane our lives might seem, bears the potential for great things. Hidden in every young shepherd boy could be a king, and every teenage girl might bring Christ into the world. Any thief could buy his way into Paradise in the eleventh hour with a single act of kindness. A very old couple might well be the parents of a new and blessed nation even though their lives seem almost over. An abused and forsaken single mother could encounter an angel and through that experience learn that God sees and knows her and is preparing a way for her and her rejected child. It would not be wrong to say that we have a religious obligation to believe these things and to bring these divine surprises to life within us. We are all “talented” I can’t play a musical instrument, and maybe you can’t sing outside of the shower. But that’s not all there is to being talented. Some of us can dance and some of us can act or paint or write or cook or think brilliant thoughts or fix anything that’s broken. But that’s not the whole story of how God grants talents far and wide to those who would be servants of the divine will. We are each “talented” by the God who gifts us and provides us with every grace and blessing. Those talents may naturally lead us into a specific vocation to scientific endeavors or teaching; working with our hands or our head; community service or civic leadership; marriage and family life; priesthood or religious life. Yet our job or our role is only one expression of the divine talent that has been given to us. Another is realized in the bringing to fruition the seeds of the Holy Spirit planted in us, those nine elements of Christian maturity listed in Galatians as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Each Christian has been entrusted with these nine talents, so to speak, and none of us is exempt from nurturing them to a ripe harvest. If you’re still fumbling around wondering where your talent lies, what you’re especially good at, consider getting good at the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Master love. Whatever your capacity for love is, widen it a little every day, practicing tenderness, mercy, and compassion, especially when it’s really hard to do so. The more you love, the more you can love. It’s like jogging, without the special shoes. Master joy. Take delight in small things: the first snowfall of winter, a child’s trust in you, the greeting of a stranger on the street, someone else’s good news. In our cynical culture, the cultivation of joy is a deliberate decision. If you don’t feel happy enough for joy, start with gratitude for every good thing that comes your way and work your way up. Master peace. Choose nonviolence in your speech, in the slowness to take offense, in the charity of giving the other person the benefit of the doubt when you feel hurt. Whenever the fierce feelings arise in you, counter them with some quiet time, prayer for the offender, forgiveness, and letting yourself off the hook, too, for a change. Better than pearls The description of the worthy wife in the unabridged version of Proverbs makes some men wonder how to get one, while most women just feel tired at the litany of her endeavors. She is exercising many different talents at once: craft, business acumen, charity, and religious devotion. But underneath the flurry of activity we glimpse what makes her so worthy: her patience at the spindle, her kindness and generosity to the disadvantaged, and her faithfulness to her spouse, among other qualities. It’s not the busy-ness of this woman that makes her admirable—that might simply make her a workaholic. It’s the spirit in which she does all that she does that makes those who know her stand back in amazement. The talents behind her talents, we might say, are the spiritual fruits, without which she might be resentful, stressed, angry, or depressed with the pace of her days and the multiplication of her responsibilities, as many people are today. If we exercise our overt talents without nurturing the interior ones, we may find ourselves outwardly successful, but inwardly imitating Edvard Munch’s character in The Scream. Applying the word Our talents in the light The day of the Lord is hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles all this month as the church year draws to a close, and Saint Paul reminds us that its most fateful characteristic is its suddenness. When you don’t know the arrival time of your guest, a good host makes the guest room up early and keeps the porch light on. If your boss didn’t say when she’d be back, the smart employee plugs away at the job and doesn’t goof off. If you’re waiting for a special news report, now is not the time to wander away from the television or computer. Self-control is the big virtue here, with its behavior planted in constancy and its confidence in delayed gratification. Children of the light are prepared to rest when it’s time to rest, and to hold fast to the promise in the meantime. The great end-time talent is self-control, and the time to employ it is today. Related scripture links Hidden gifts in ordinary people: Gen. 12:1-3, 16:1-16; 1 Sam. 16:1-13; Luke 1:26-38, 23:39-43 Vocations according to Paul: 1 Cor. 12:27-28 Spiritual gifts according to Paul: 1 Cor. 12:4-11 Fruits of the Spirit: Gal. 5:22-23

Authors Alice Camille

talents parable of the talents

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Homily stories

15 Nov 2020 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Working in my dad’s grocery store as a teen, I was taught that the customer is always right and to smile at them no matter what. One day as I was at the cash register, a stranger asked me for change for a $20 bill and then a ten and then a five. I was responding with my dazzling smile when my brother slammed the register drawer shut. Then he told the customer to get out of the store right away. I was dumbfounded. My brother explained that it was a scam and that the register at the end of the day would be at least $20 short. He was right. The next time someone tried it on me, my smile vanished as I told him to leave before my brothers and I called the police. There are times to be nice and times to be not so nice. The parable of the talents remind us how “nice” God has been to bless us with so much. But with those gifts comes an important responsibility: to use them and share them in a way that they are not squandered.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

parable of the talents

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The inner word

19 Nov 2023 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

We enter into a time of reckoning of sorts. The readings for this Sunday extol the fruits of a life of wisdom, issue a call to live awake and in the light, and warn us with the parable of the talents. Before preparing to preach to others about how they make use of their talents, prayerfully consider these questions and take stock of ways you give a good return on the gifts God has given you, and where you may have let them lie fallow. In the first reading, wisdom’s value is measured by the abundant goodness that she produces. What accomplishment of the past year has brought me the most satisfaction? In the letter to the Thessalonians, Paul responds to those who are disappointed that their fellow believers have died before the second coming of Jesus. What disappointments lurk in my heart? What consolation do I take from Paul’s words? What gifts or talents have I buried: dreams of my younger days; potential that others have seen in me; talents that would take me out of my “comfort zone” should I try access them? Speaking of spiritual gifts, Jesus says, “To all those who have, more will be given and you will have an abundance.” What spiritual gifts have I received? How have I seen them grow through the grace of God?

parable of the talents

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Exploring the word

19 Nov 2023 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

An acquaintance confided in me that she rolls down her car window when she sees folks hanging out at the corner. “Get a job and a haircut!” she yells, and speeds off. It’s a cowardly way to express her annoyance, I admit. She says the part about the job because she can’t stand to see people idling away their time. The part about the haircut she throws in because she’s a neat freak. Frankly, I know there’s a lazy person inside of me aching to be let out. I can’t think of anything more appealing than an afternoon on the couch with a bag of potato chips. But our culture has stepped up the pace with our phones making us more available than ever for the rising demands of our work. At the same time, our smart gadgets and online lifestyles make us more efficient and adaptable, so we can do a whole lot more and faster. Globalization brings the world into our living rooms, and we can’t escape the barrage of information and expectation anymore. And if you are married and have children, multiply that times the members of your family and let the primal screaming begin. Idle hands are the devil’s workshop One of the Hebrew images that used to initiate a round of screaming for me is the “worthy wife” of Proverbs. If you read the entire passage in Chapter 31, you’ll understand why. This woman is deemed more valuable than pearls. I’d say this woman is worth a whole corporation! She is in charge of purchasing for the household, makes her own clothes and bedding, buys a field, plants a vineyard, sells her wares in the marketplace, cares for the poor, distributes advice. . . .The writer tells us she begins her workday while it’s still dark. I suspect she’d have to. Her children and husband also praise her. I wonder if they ever see her. What redeemed the worthy wife image for me was when I discovered that it’s not intended to be a job description for married women. This industrious, clever, and essential person is a stand-in for the character in wisdom tradition known as Lady Wisdom. Often contrasted with Dame Folly, who lounges in doorways and invites men to idle away the hours with her, Lady Wisdom is marvelously productive and worth partnering up with. It’s clear that the precursor to the Protestant work ethic lies in Hebrew scripture. Don’t stop now “Let us not sleep like the rest,” Paul warns the Thessalonians. Uh, oh. If you were hoping for respite in Paul’s corner, you may be disappointed. The early church had its idlers: some who took the parousia (the second coming of Jesus) too literally and lost interest in worldly concerns, and others (no doubt) who just liked to party. Paul refused to support a lazy interpretation of Christian hope. Knowing that this world is imminently “toast” only provides more incentive to put our shoulders to the wheel, evangelizing, giving instruction and counsel, and most of all offering a picture-perfect example of the new creation in which we place all our hopes. And our faith teaches us that the day of that arrival is at hand, though the timing is secret—not because we have a stealth Messiah, but simply because the future belongs to God alone. We mortals have trouble just living down the past and trying to stay organized in the present. We may be in the dark about the exact hour of the hour, but as Paul says, we aren’t living in the dark in our awareness of the truth. We don’t have to guess who’s coming to dinner. We know. Wailing in the dark Those who refuse to work with this truth and for the sake of it will live to regret that decision. If we choose to live in the dark we should not be surprised when we die into it as well. So we hear in the parable of the talents. The one who takes his master’s wealth and buries it like a corpse is startled to hear later that he has sown the death of his own opportunities. He is not rewarded for his caution but punished for his cowardice and sloth. He will grind his teeth against the bitter taste of his forfeited hopes. It’s not mere laziness at fault, but also gutlessness. Jesus our storyteller, after all, is from the community that coined the term chutzpah. Taking a risk is as biblical as Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Mary of Nazareth. Though Christianity has historically looked down its nose at gambling, the whole of salvation history has been a divine roll of the dice—or the Urim and Thummim, if you will. In every episode, God has a plan but needs some human agent to lay his or her money down and share in the stakes. Will it be you this time, or I? Applying the word A piece of the action The moral of the story is not to endorse workaholism, a serious illness affecting our culture. That sort of activity is, spiritually speaking, a waste of time—which is shorter than we think and not a commodity to squander. Likewise, we do need to be still and know God, who is productive in a way we can’t measure or imagine. But wisdom recommends that we steer our lives around to the kind of productivity that bears fruit in the only harvest worth planting. What we have in our hands—our time, love, and free choice—is ready to be invested. God is looking for a partner in an amazing deal. Are we in or are we out? Related scripture links Hidden gifts in ordinary people: Gen. 12:1-3, 16:1-16; 1 Sam. 16:1-13; Luke 1:26-38, 23:39-43 Vocations according to Paul: 1 Cor. 12:27-28 Spiritual gifts according to Paul: 1 Cor. 12:4-11 Fruits of the Spirit: Gal. 5:22-23 Catechism links Vocation: CCC 1-3; 543; 825; 1695 Spiritual fruits: CCC 736; 1832 Day of the Lord: CCC 668-679; 2849 Talents: CCC 546; 1720; 1936; 2683

Authors Alice Camille

worthy wife lady wisdom parable of the talents

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Homily stories

19 Nov 2023 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

I had a friend whose father worked a lot of evenings and also traveled a lot for his job. He once told me, "I was always relieved when I heard Dad's footstep on the stairs coming up to our apartment. Life never seemed quite right when he was away, and for a while I found myself becoming withdrawn and even depressed during his absences." Though God never leaves us, there are times we experience the absence of God. Today's gospel begins by saying that the landowner was leaving—going on a journey. The story revolves around what happens in the landowner's absence. Some people stay busy and involved in life, putting their "talents" to good use. Others withdraw from life and get disengaged. Perhaps one of the best benefits of having faith, even in those times when we don't feel God's presence, is that it gives us the confidence to continue to function well in life—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—despite our uncertainties. This is one of the biggest gifts that parents can nurture in their children—the ability to have faith even in times of doubt. We will all go through times of confusion. But the worst thing we can do at such times is to withdraw our gifts and our talents from the world. For it is in putting them to good use that we're most likely to hear God's footsteps and know that all is well.

Authors Tom McGrath

parable of the talents

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Homily stories

19 Nov 2023 - Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Working in my dad's grocery store as a teen, I was taught that the customer is always right and to smile at them no matter what. One day as I was at the cash register, a stranger asked me for change for a $20 bill and then a ten and then a five. I was responding with my dazzling smile when my brother slammed the register drawer shut. Then he told the customer to get out of the store right away. I was dumbfounded. My brother explained that it was a scam and that the register at the end of the day would be at least $20 short. He was right. The next time someone tried it on me, my smile vanished as I told him to leave before my brothers and I called the police. There are times to be nice and times to be not so nice. The parable of the talents reminds us how "nice" God has been to bless us with so much. But with those gifts comes an important responsibility: to use them and share them in a way that they are not squandered.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

parable of the talents

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