Talents, Skills and Gifts

Our Gospel this weekend contains the enigmatic but attention-grabbing parable of the talents. In this passage, Jesus says the Kingdom of God will be like a man who goes on a long journey, but before he leaves he gathers his three most trusted servants and gives a share of his money to invest according to their skills (“talents” does not refer to abilities or skills, but to money). Let’s say he gives one $500, one $200 and another $100.

After the long journey, he returns and gathers his servants back together, wanting to settle his accounts with them. The one to whom he gave $500 had used it to trade in the stock market, and turned it into $1000. The one to whom he’d given $200 had done the same, so that he now had $400. The one to whom he’d given $100 had reasoned that since his master would demand every penny back, it would be unwise to risk any of it, so he buried the money in his yard. When the master asked him about it he handed the $100 over and said “here, take what is yours”. To the two people who had wisely invested his money and made a decent return, the master gave power and authority, but to the person who’d done nothing with his resources, however, he gave nothing, and even took the $100 he had and gave it to the others.

The moral of the story – and this is incredibly relevant for us, who have been praying the “Yes Prayer” every Sunday for nearly one year – is that we are invited to actively use the skills and gifts that God has uniquely given within the mission-field before us. We are to be proactive and to take risks because God is going to expect us to have accomplished something with what we have been given. God does not expect the exact same thing from everyone though; God’s expectations of us are in proportion to the resources, skills and gifts that we have been given.

The challenge before us, as a parish, however, is to create a culture and environment in which everyone has a role to play no matter their age. As Psalm 92:13 says, “Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God; still bearing fruit when they are old; still full of sap, still green.” May you be blessed as you discern where God is calling you to serve in our parish.  To find out more, type this web address into your browser:   www.caloundracatholicparish.net/ministryareas