Daily Readings 08/30/2014 or Exercising Fiduciary Responsibility in the Marketplace of Souls

"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.’" -Mt. 25:24-25

08/30/2014 Saturday of the Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time

Today's readings start out with St. Paul telling the Corinthians, in essence, that God did not choose the rich and powerful to spread His message. He chose the weak, the 'fools', the lowly and despised of the world and He gave them the strength, wisdom and courage to spread the good news. It worked because they trusted God to help them 'harvest' if you will, and build up His kingdom. He even exemplified this Himself when He came to us as an infant, born to a virgin and a carpenter from a backwater town and then defeated not only the powerful men of the time, but death itself, by laying down His own life on the cross.

In the gospel reading of the talents, we have servants who are given fiduciary responsibility over some of their master's wealth. The parable then goes on to show what happens when they do not use what the master gives to them. The servants who take their talents and multiply them are rewarded and the servant who hid his talent is punished. God gives each of us different blessings and talents. His desire is that we use those gifts and talents to increase His numbers by sharing the good news of salvation. We take our gifts and by trusting them back to Him and using them to fulfill His plans for us and for others, we multiply the members of the Body of Christ. If, however, we receive gifts from God and hide them underground (or even under a bushel basket) then we are not living up to our full potential.

 I used to think of this parable only in terms of wasting the talents that God gave you. Tonight, however, when I read it, I was struck more by the fear of the servant who hides his talent. Perhaps it's not that the master is upset because the servant didn't make a return. Maybe He's angry because the servant acted out of fear and not out of a desire to build up the master's wealth. May we always be willing to use the gifts God gave us to build up the spiritual wealth of His people and proclaim His kingdom and salvation.

God bless,
P.D.O.