Fr. Adolph Guy sx
Today is the 33rd Sunday of ordinary time. Those of us who are familiar with the liturgical year know very well that this Sunday is the second to the last. Next Sunday we will be celebrating the solemnity of Christ the king and this solemnity ends the liturgical year. The gospel of this Sunday provides us with a framework through which each of us can assess himself/herself as to how he/she has been productive all along this year and in contribution to the advent of the kingdom of heaven on earth.
In today’s gospel, Jesus expounds to us what the kingdom of Heaven looks like through the parable of talents. In the imagination of some of us, the expression “Kingdom of Heaven” hints at a certain location, be it a place or a country in the sky, beyond the clouds, totally disconnected from our daily life on earth. Only later, through catechesis, we discover that the Kingdom of Heaven means the Kingdom of God as we hear it from the other gospels (synoptic gospels). In Mark 1:15 we hear Jesus saying: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.” It means the kingdom of God is almost there but not yet. Perhaps this entails also our responsibility in making the Kingdom of God manifest! In the same way, when we recite the Our Father prayer, we also plead to God saying: “Our Father …your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” In Revelation 21, Saint John talks of The New Heaven and the New Earth. He says: “And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God … And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them…”
Today’s gospel testifies to God’s will to involve humanity in the advent of the New Heaven and the New Earth. God distributed talents to each of us. The gospel points out three persons by way of illustration. The two first were creative enough that they gained the same amount as what they had previously received. The third was afraid so that he hid the talent. He remained unproductive. In our daily conversations, we understand a talent to be a gift or skill innate to somebody. One can have more than one talent. This natural gift or skills can enable a person to make a living out of it (them), and, why not, to build one’s fortune on it. In the time of Jesus, a talent meant a unit of measurement for goods and precious minerals such as gold, silver, and the likes. Therefore, be it in terms of natural skills or material goods, talents need to be handled with care. Historians tell us that in the past one talent meant a lot of money that could amount to twenty years salary of a common worker.
Many of us hid their talents out of fear. Others have not yet even identified their own talents because they keep looking at themselves through the eyes of the others. But the truth is they forget that each of us is unique in this world. I found this idea quoted in The Way of Man of Martin Buber: “It is the duty of every person […] to know and consider that he is unique in the world in his particular character and that there has never been anyone like him in the world, for if there had been someone like him, there would have been no need for him to be in the world. Every single man is a new thing in the world, and is called upon fulfilling his particularity in this world.”
Therefore, bring out your talents and use them to serve the world. In There is a problem, Pope Francis admonishes, when doubts and fears condition our way of thinking and acting to the point of making us intolerant, closed. An individual and a people are only fruitful and productive if they are able to develop a creative openness to others.[1] With your talents, God has particular issue that only you can address in the world. I just imagine how this world would be if all of us could bring out our talents in be it in terms of skills, gifts or materials on one hand, and on the other hand, open ourselves to the benefice of our brothers and sisters’ talents!
In the end of this liturgical year, it is good to confront ourselves to this gospel and see how far we have worked for the transformation of this world into the better place. In this sense, we thank our medical staff along them police men and women without forgetting soldiers in their effort to counter this corona virus pandemic. Some of them have paid with their lives. I encourage others to do the same in various fields of work.
[1] Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti no 41.
Today is the 33rd Sunday of ordinary time. Those of us who are familiar with the liturgical year know very well that this Sunday is the second to the last. Next Sunday we will be celebrating the solemnity of Christ the king and this solemnity ends the liturgical year. The gospel of this Sunday provides us with a framework through which each of us can assess himself/herself as to how he/she has been productive all along this year and in contribution to the advent of the kingdom of heaven on earth.
In today’s gospel, Jesus expounds to us what the kingdom of Heaven looks like through the parable of talents. In the imagination of some of us, the expression “Kingdom of Heaven” hints at a certain location, be it a place or a country in the sky, beyond the clouds, totally disconnected from our daily life on earth. Only later, through catechesis, we discover that the Kingdom of Heaven means the Kingdom of God as we hear it from the other gospels (synoptic gospels). In Mark 1:15 we hear Jesus saying: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.” It means the kingdom of God is almost there but not yet. Perhaps this entails also our responsibility in making the Kingdom of God manifest! In the same way, when we recite the Our Father prayer, we also plead to God saying: “Our Father …your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” In Revelation 21, Saint John talks of The New Heaven and the New Earth. He says: “And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God … And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them…”
Today’s gospel testifies to God’s will to involve humanity in the advent of the New Heaven and the New Earth. God distributed talents to each of us. The gospel points out three persons by way of illustration. The two first were creative enough that they gained the same amount as what they had previously received. The third was afraid so that he hid the talent. He remained unproductive. In our daily conversations, we understand a talent to be a gift or skill innate to somebody. One can have more than one talent. This natural gift or skills can enable a person to make a living out of it (them), and, why not, to build one’s fortune on it. In the time of Jesus, a talent meant a unit of measurement for goods and precious minerals such as gold, silver, and the likes. Therefore, be it in terms of natural skills or material goods, talents need to be handled with care. Historians tell us that in the past one talent meant a lot of money that could amount to twenty years salary of a common worker.
Many of us hid their talents out of fear. Others have not yet even identified their own talents because they keep looking at themselves through the eyes of the others. But the truth is they forget that each of us is unique in this world. I found this idea quoted in The Way of Man of Martin Buber: “It is the duty of every person […] to know and consider that he is unique in the world in his particular character and that there has never been anyone like him in the world, for if there had been someone like him, there would have been no need for him to be in the world. Every single man is a new thing in the world, and is called upon fulfilling his particularity in this world.”
Therefore, bring out your talents and use them to serve the world. In There is a problem, Pope Francis admonishes, when doubts and fears condition our way of thinking and acting to the point of making us intolerant, closed. An individual and a people are only fruitful and productive if they are able to develop a creative openness to others.[1] With your talents, God has particular issue that only you can address in the world. I just imagine how this world would be if all of us could bring out our talents in be it in terms of skills, gifts or materials on one hand, and on the other hand, open ourselves to the benefice of our brothers and sisters’ talents!
In the end of this liturgical year, it is good to confront ourselves to this gospel and see how far we have worked for the transformation of this world into the better place. In this sense, we thank our medical staff along them police men and women without forgetting soldiers in their effort to counter this corona virus pandemic. Some of them have paid with their lives. I encourage others to do the same in various fields of work.
[1] Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti no 41.