Parable of the Talents

A reflection upon the Gospel of Matthew 25:14-30.

Transcript

00:00 Put yourself in the place of the servants in the parable, which are this

00:05 Sunday's gospel, the parable of the talents. So these servants, they're really

00:09 slaves. Their whole life is just a life of drudgery. And then one day, the master

00:15 of this huge household calls them in, and without saying a word, hands over to them

00:20 this staggering amount of money. One talent was worth 16 years worth of wages.

00:28 And then he leaves, again, without saying anything. So there you are, with this

00:34 fortune in your arms, this terrible life, nothing to look forward to. What do you

00:39 do? I'll tell you, one word comes to mind for me, and that is the word "Acapulco."

00:45 I take that money, and I go, and I travel to some wonderful place which I can now

00:52 afford to live in, and I start my life over. But these people don't do that. They

00:57 go off and invest the money, and then they come back and give it to the master.

01:00 Why? Because it's not the money that moves them. What moves them is the way

01:06 that this man has looked at them and given them a chance. They see in the gaze

01:11 that he gives them a love and an opportunity. He's inviting them to

01:16 something more that can only happen because of his goodness towards them, and

01:22 they want to stay close to that goodness. I often say to people that come to me

01:26 in confession, what Jesus says at the end of this parable, he says, "Those who are

01:30 faithful in small matters will be entrusted with much greater ones," as the

01:35 servants are in the parable. When we dare to come back to God with the knowledge

01:42 of our sins, asking for his mercy, trusting that he wants to forgive us,

01:46 then he can make things happen in our life, miracles happen in our life, that

01:52 would never be possible unless we really put our trust in what he entrusts to us,

01:58 unless we invest our confidence and confide in what he has confided in us. So

02:05 let's do that. Christ is constantly giving us himself, handing himself over

02:10 to us, so as to invite us away from our slavery to become the sons and daughters

02:17 of God. Come and share your master's joy.

02:23 you

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