I hate to admit it but I am not always the smartest person in the room, especially when it comes to my faith, theology, the catechism, and especially interpreting the Bible. Sometimes passages will speak to me (sometimes they even yell at me) and other times they make no sense to me at all, or hardly any.
Today’s Gospel reading, Matthew 25:14 – 30 is one of those. It is the “Parable of the Talents” where a business person has to leave on a business trip and entrusts three of his servants with some money. Two of them spend them wisely, doubling the owner’s money while the third, well, not so much. For some reason, I could never quite understand what this was supposed to be teaching me, even though the title should have been a clue.
Before I get into what it has taught me, let me say this. Since me reversion to the Catholic faith, I have realized that the more you seek, the more you find (Matthew 7:7). Each day I learn something new about my faith, whether through the Bible, reading the Church Fathers and other writers, listening to catholic radio, or just reflecting and thinking. I may read something more than once, and learn something new each time, or come away with a new insight I didn’t have before. It’s amazing what happens when you let God speak to you.
Ok, back to the talents. I have been writing for awhile now. When I first began it was before I fell off that truck. I used to write about politics and even became somewhat involved in it, helping candidates, etc. Through two presidential elections and three mid-term elections, I began to realize something, The problems in this country are way deeper than the political process. It is way more than the Democrats, the Republicans, the Libertarians and the Tea Party. I have come to believe it is a crisis of faith. I believe by removing God from “the public square” we have allowed Satan to take His place. It was then I realized that I was working for the wrong things. Not that these things can’t be changed through politics, but I believe we need to start with our faith.
And now the insight I received from today’s reading. On my phone I have an app called “Laudate” (you can find it in your app store). This app gives the daily readings for the day and a whole bunch of other great stuff. As part of the daily readings there is a “Reflections” tab which contains a daily reflection on the readings. Here is a paragraph from today’s:
What do coins and the law of economics have to do with the kingdom of God? The Lord entrusts the subjects of his kingdom with gifts and graces and he gives his subjects the freedom to use them as they think best. With each gift and talent, God gives sufficient means (grace and wisdom) for using them in a fitting way. As the parable of the talents shows, God abhors indifference and an attitude that says it’s not worth trying. God honors those who use their talents and gifts for doing good. Those who are faithful with even a little are entrusted with more! But those who neglect or squander what God has entrusted to them will lose what they have.
There is an important lesson here for us. No one can stand still for long in the Christian life. We either get more or we lose what we have. We either advance towards God or we slip back. Do you seek to serve God with the gifts, talents, and graces he has given to you? – Daily Scripture
God gives us talents, with me I like to think it is a gift for writing, well at least until He tells me otherwise, and I realize I need to use it to make a difference. That difference isn’t by trying to change the world through politics, but rather, through getting people back to God. It is to somehow stop people from making the mistakes I have made in my life, to either bring them back into the faith or stop them from leaving the faith. This is where the change has to come from, where it needs to begin.
Reading this reflection today I finally understood that I have been wasting the talents God has given me and I need to focus more on my writing, I need to use these talents for the right reasons. Yes, I will still write about politics, and recently have resurrected one of my old blogs and will soon resurrect a second, but with a slightly different view. In addition, I will continue with some other writing projects with the same ultimate goal in mind.
I don’t know if I will be successful, but I know I can no longer squander the talents God has given me.
For your reading pleasure from Amazon:
Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul
Evangelizing Catholics: A Mission Manual for the New Evangelization
The Wayward Catholic 