Talents - Gifts of the new Kingdom

(Mt 25:14-30)

How can a community reveal the presence of God? By enhancing and accentuating the facets of life, defending them, promoting them and cheering them up.

Why is it that some grow and others do not? Why is it that those who advance less than others, precisely on the 'religious' path, risk ruin?

We all have unique strengths, bullets, qualities and inclinations. Everyone receives gifts as an outrider (even if only one) and can fit into church services.

Everyone - even the normally excluded [like Zacchaeus, in the parallel passage in Lk 19:1-10.11-28] - has a wealth of unparalleled resources that he or she can pass on, for the enrichment of the community.

Mt tells this parable because some Jewish converts in his communities find it difficult to unlock and evolve. And some just do not flourish, clinging to roles and devotions.

To put it plainly, a competition arises among them concerning the importance of ecclesial assignments [this is the true evangelical meaning of "talents according to ability": v.15].

These tasks are also undermined by the onslaught of those coming from paganism, who are less intimidated and looser than the (somewhat museum-like) Judaizing faithful.

The resulting punctiliousness stiffens the internal atmosphere, accentuates difficulties in collaborating, and exchanging gifts and resources - enriching one another.

Vain and competitive situations we know.

We all receive some accent of the Kingdom, 'goods' to be multiplied by passing on, for example (here) the Word of God.

A unique gift, but not rare: immense prosperity and extraordinary life-promoting virtues... for each and all.

Thus the spirit of service and sharing; the aptitude for discernment and appreciation of unique uniqueness, and much more.

Of course, the community grows not if it produces, showcases and 'yields'. It is made up of members who are all valuable and already 'adults', who spontaneously know where and how to place themselves!

Women and men of Faith do not seek merits, they do not hold back for themselves; they relate to God and their neighbour wisely, even when not in 'correct' terms and formulas (according to the instruction booklet).

Unfortunately, in order to persuade them to respect characters and configuration, and to follow custom, veterans have not infrequently played on fear.

With regard to 'social' fear, in particular, on the popular inclination not to get into trouble (which also paralysed the inner life).

Since the time of Jesus, there has been no lack of fear and the desire to avoid blackmail [my mother used to say in amazement of dishonest leaders: "They use religion as a weapon!"].

The very idea of the ancient God as lawgiver and judge (vv.24-25) induced believers not to grow or pass on, but rather to shut themselves away and distance themselves from the Father's project.

On pain of social exclusion, it was forbidden to welcome new experiences of God, to authentically encounter oneself, to open up personal (even radically identity) spaces, to chart new paths.

Thus for centuries.

To understand the meaning of the parallel passage of Lk 19:11-28 [v.22 where in the CEI translation the King would seem to reiterate the mean idea of the uneducated launderer], it is enough to insert a question mark [the original Greek codes had no punctuation]:

"He says to him: From your own mouth I judge you, wicked servant! Did you know that I am a severe man, that I take what I have not laid down and that I reap what I have not sown?"

The same in Mt 25:26:

"But answering his Lord said to him, 'Wicked and idle servant [...] Did you know that I reap where I have not sown and I gather where I have not scattered?"

As if to say: "But who taught you that!".

The Lord emphatically reiterates that that deformed concept of the doting Heavens can negatively affect the character lines, and ruin people's existence. Especially if Freedom and the risk of Love are perceived as a guilt - in any case a danger of sin that could lead to the deleterious spiritual state of no longer being considered (by traditional religiosity) 'in the grace of God'.

Ancient religions needed followers who were also immature and obtuse, without nerve - who were then content to avoid danger, and clung to the petty securities of the everyday grind.

Instead, the Father desires expanded hearts, which undertake and risk for love, and for love's sake.

If the God of popular piety needs flocks that are sometimes obtuse and servile, Christ needs friends, family members and reckless collaborators, capable of walking on their own legs, who do not dehumanise (others too).

Thus, today, the pastoral of consent [I will give you what you want] presupposes obedient and devout masses, deprived of personality and dreams.

Instead, the Lord wants Family, where no one is alarmed, restrained, blocked, put in the hole. Perhaps for fear of losing the family tranquillity, the little place he has, the fake security he has carved out or taken as alms.

Pope Francis, for example, does not want conquests to frighten us and hold us back, but that as consanguineers of our eternal side, we should be the first to vibrate with prophetic ideals. And ramming through false convictions that do not disturb - indeed, they put us into lethargy - to stimulate more grandiose ideal areas in terms of humanising qualities.

Even the little that each person has in dowry can be invested - through a contribution to be made, available to all.

This is what happens in the community that enhances us: the ministerial Church ["bank" of v.27] that projects and infinitely expands the resources, the broken Bread, the "goods" of the Kingdom of God.

That which promotes people and reveals the Presence of God is personal and unique, yet it must not remain as rare.

Everyone has an opportunity for apostolate, his or her own attitude of friendship and skills... these are territories and energies to be explored without limits, so that they may be shared, made sapiential and propulsive.

As the Pontiff declared:

"The inability of experts to see the signs of the times is due to the fact that they are closed within their system; they know what can and cannot be done, and they stay safe there. Let us ask ourselves: am I only open to my own things and my own ideas, or am I open to the God of surprises?"

Anyone who updates, confronts, takes an interest and makes a contribution - without getting overwhelmed by routine, fear, fatigue - sees their human and spiritual richness grow and flourish.

Conversely, no one will be surprised that rearguard or abstract and disembodied situations - exhausting, though in themselves sluggish, exhausted, spineless and merely boring or fanciful - suffer further downturns and finally perish without leaving regrets (vv.27-30).

In these catecheses of chapter 25, the evangelist Mt tries to make his communities understand, help and act as a springboard, remembering that Jesus himself was not under escort, but an involved, willing figure.

He did not let matters slide, but entered into them - nor did he say: what am I doing here?

Nor did he merely fight for a welcome and necessary legal change - but stood at a safe distance.

Instead, he embodied the gift of self, tracing the path of social choice in the first person, with an arduousness to undertake it; without placing anything in the safe, out of fear.

Paraphrasing the encyclical Fratelli Tutti (No. 262) we would say: he knew that not even norms were sufficient 'if one thinks that the solution to problems consists in dissuading through fear'.

The Lord in fact frequented the out-of-touch and in-between figures; he kept away from envious and smelly circles. He acted in a hard-working, "artisanal" (FT n.217) manner and put his face to it; he did not preach to others ex cathedra.

Did he have alternatives?

Certainly: not to move, not to guard the least, to limit oneself, to keep one's mouth shut; possibly to open it, but only to flatter the powerful, the established and well-connected.

By giving up the struggle and taking tortuous paths, he would have no problems.

And if he had added omertà to the common mediocrity of the spiritual leaders of the time, he might well have had a career.

But for us too: playing it down and safe atrophies personal and social life, does not grow a new kingdom - it loses it.

In everyone, something equal and unequal

The Gospel [...] is the parable of the talents, taken from St Matthew (25:14-30). It tells of a man who, before setting out on a journey, summons servants and entrusts them with his wealth in talents, ancient coins of great value. That master entrusts the first servant with five talents, the second with two, and the third with one. During the master's absence, the three servants must make use of this patrimony. The first and second servants each double the starting capital; the third, however, for fear of losing everything, buries the talent received in a hole. On the master's return, the first two receive praise and reward, while the third, who only returns the coin received, is reprimanded and punished.

The significance of this is clear. The man in the parable represents Jesus, the servants are us, and the talents are the heritage that the Lord entrusts to us. What is the heritage? His Word, the Eucharist, faith in the heavenly Father, His forgiveness... in short, so many things, His most precious possessions. This is the patrimony that He entrusts to us. Not only to be guarded, but to grow! While in common usage the term 'talent' indicates a distinct individual quality - e.g. talent in music, sport, etc. - in the parable the talents represent the Lord's goods, which He entrusts to us so that we may make them bear fruit. The hole dug in the ground by the "wicked and slothful servant" (v. 26) indicates the fear of risk that blocks the creativity and fruitfulness of love. For fear of the risks of love blocks us. Jesus does not ask us to keep his grace in a safe! Jesus does not ask this of us, but he wants us to use it for the benefit of others. All the goods we have received are to give them to others, and so they grow. It is as if he were saying to us: 'Here is my mercy, my tenderness, my forgiveness: take them and make good use of them'. And what have we done with them? Who have we 'infected' with our faith? How many people have we encouraged with our hope? How much love have we shared with our neighbour? These are questions it is good for us to ask ourselves. Any environment, even the most distant and impractical, can become a place where talents can bear fruit. There are no situations or places precluded to Christian presence and witness. The witness that Jesus asks of us is not closed, it is open, it depends on us.

This parable spurs us not to hide our faith and our belonging to Christ, not to bury the Word of the Gospel, but to circulate it in our lives, in relationships, in concrete situations, as a force that challenges, that purifies, that renews. The same goes for forgiveness, which the Lord gives us especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation: let us not keep it closed within ourselves, but let us allow it to unleash its power, let it bring down walls that our selfishness has put up, let it make us take the first step in blocked relationships, resume dialogue where there is no more communication... And so on. Let these talents, these gifts that the Lord has given us, come to others, grow, bear fruit, with our witness.

I think it would be a nice gesture today for each of you to take the Gospel home, the Gospel of St Matthew, chapter 25, verses 14 to 30, Matthew 25: 14-30, and read this, and meditate a little: 'The talents, the riches, all that God has given me of spiritual, of goodness, the Word of God, how do I make them grow in others? Or do I just keep them in a safe?"

And furthermore, the Lord does not give everyone the same things and in the same way: he knows us personally and entrusts to us what is right for us; but in everyone there is something equal: the same, immense trust. God trusts us, God has hope in us! And this is the same for everyone. Let us not disappoint Him! Let us not be deceived by fear, but let us trust with confidence! The Virgin Mary embodies this attitude in the most beautiful and fullest way. She received and accepted the most sublime gift, Jesus himself, and in turn offered him to humanity with a generous heart. We ask her to help us to be "good and faithful servants", to participate "in the joy of our Lord".

(Pope Francis, Angelus 16 November 2014)