Your Talent Is Your Mission

Homily for Saturday of 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time | August 31, 2019

INTRODUCTION:

Sisters and Brothers in Christ, the Good News for today is the parable of the talents. It’s dominant message is about our sense of accountability and stewardship of God-given talents, and also our preparedness for the coming of the Master.

In the Gospel we are invited to be like the first two servants who waited actively for the day of reckoning. We are invited to wait not in passiveness, and laziness because the time for waiting and preparation is the best time to know more about what or who we are waiting for.

For the many times we succumbed to indolence and mediocrity, we ask the Lord for mercy and pardon.

Our Gospel today could stand independent of homilies or explanations for it presents a clear picture of the story of 3 slaves and a master who entrusted them with talents. Whether the master has a strong sense of entitlement and credit-grabbing, as the servant thought of him to be, is not the matter. The matter is the accountability and trust given to us.

1. Talents belong to God. If we are given one or two or several; that is because God is good.

The fact that we have a talent, no matter how great or insignificant we consider them to be is a manifestation that trust has been given to us by God, and if there is trust there is relationship.

2. Our talent is our mission.

St. Paul cites the importance of contributing our giftedness for the good of the community. He considers it mutual love that God has taught us to love one another, and this is possible if we contribute our passions, give our best and become better versions of ourselves in the process. When we give ourselves to an experience, the experience in turn becomes an opportunity to grow.

3. Talents don’t grow in fear and doubt.

The more we risk, the more we get comfortable with the enterprise. Mistakes are necessary for you to acquire the necessary confidence, and it is that confidence that will drive you through whatever. If we are not disturbed, if we don’t invest, if weldon’t risk, if we do not commit mistake in our craft, we are not growing.

4. Talents could define us. Choose the good kind and stop comparing yourself with others.

We are like glasses of water. May malaki, may maliit, may mahabang baso, may maliit. Iba-iba and kapasidad natin. Pero kappa pinion taco ng tubig, Puno tayo. Let us not compare ourselves but grow instead. Our presence and membership in a community is our primary contribution to it, but Paul exhorts us for more; to do more and more.

I therefore conclude that when we give more and more, we are loving genuinely, and are growing in the process. When we give beyond what we can give, do beyond what we can do, that is love.

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READINGS

▪️ FIRST READING | 1 Thes 4:9-11

Brothers and sisters: On the subject of fraternal charity you have no need for anyone to write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. Indeed, you do this for all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Nevertheless we urge you, brothers and sisters, to progress even more, and to aspire to live a tranquil life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.

▪️RESPONSORIAL PSALM | Ps 98:1, 7-8, 9

R. (9) The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.

Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds; His right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm.

R. The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.

Let the sea and what fills it resound, the world and those who dwell in it; Let the rivers clap their hands, the mountains shout with them for joy.

R. The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.

Before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to rule the earth; He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with equity.

R. The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.

▪️GOSPEL | 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. After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’”