Fr Marco Lazzaron
esus spoke this parable to his disciples: The kingdom of Heaven is like a man on his way abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them. […] Now a long time after, the master of those servants came back and went through his accounts with them (cfr. Mt 25:14-19).
These last few Sundays in Ordinary Time want us to wait eagerly for the return of Jesus. The master, in the Gospel of today, entrusts to his servants all his possessions, all that he owns, something of inestimably worth. The talent, at the time of Jesus, was worth billions of pounds in today’s currency. This already tells us something about the greatness of the gifts of God to each and every one of us, even to the one who received “only” one talent. Each one of us is an investment in the eyes of God; it is an investment of love and we are extremely precious to Him.
This implies a consequence: what we have but, even more, who we are, we need to invest it for the service of others, we need to transform what we “have” into an act of love for our neighbours. What we accumulate for ourselves we put in a “selfish” bank that is going to bankrupt sooner or later, while what we donate to others is to be put in a special account that will last for eternity, and will be ours forever.
Giving out five, two, and one talent Jesus tells us that God shares his gifts with incredible fantasy and diversity. Is it then an injustice? Someone receives from God more than me? No, it means that each and every one of us should follow his own specific road to holiness. We all have a duty and a vocation, which are unique and personal.
What makes us similar one to the other is how we make these gifts fruitful. Charity makes us all equal. If you possess health, or intelligence, or bounty, or kindness, and so on, all of these are gifts that we are called to invest for the good of our brothers and sisters who are more in need. If we keep them selfishly for ourselves they are going to be corrupted in our very hands.
Gandhi used to say: Someone who possesses something that he doesn’t need is a thief. The majority of poverty in the world is just a consequence of greed of many others. And St Augustine, similarly, said: “The one who possesses charity in his heart (even if his bank account is empty) will always have something to give to those in need”.