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The parable we just heard has a beginning, a middle, and an end, which shed light on the beginning, middle, and end of our lives.
The beginning. It all starts with a great alright. The master does not keep his wealth for himself, but gives it to his servants; five talents to one, two to another, one to a third, “each according to his ability” (Mountain 25:15). It has been calculated that a single talent was equal to the income of about twenty years of work: it was of enormous value and would be enough for a lifetime. This is the beginning. For us too, it all started with him Grace of God – everything always begins with grace, not self-effort – with the grace of God, who is Father and has given us so many good things, entrusting different talents to each of us. We have a great wealth that depends not on what we possess but on what we are: the life we have received, the good that is in us, the indelible beauty that God has given us by making us in his image … All these things make us each one of us precious in his eyes, each one of us is priceless and unique in history. This is how God looks at us, how God feels towards us.
We need to remember this. Too often when we look at our lives, we only see the things that we lack and complain about what we lack. So we give in to the temptation to say, “If only …!” If only I had that job, if only I had that house, if only I had money and success, if only I didn’t have this or that problem, if only I had better people around me…! But those illusory words, if only! – prevent us from seeing the good that surrounds us. They make us forget the talents we possess. You may not have that, But you have this, and the “if only” makes us forget this. However, God gave us these talents because He knows each of us and knows our abilities. He trusts us, despite our weaknesses. God even trusts the servant who will hide his talent, hoping that despite his fears, he too will put what he received to good use. In a word, the Lord asks us to make the most of the present moment, not longing for the past, but laboriously awaiting its return. How ugly is that nostalgia, which is like a black humor that poisons our souls and makes us always look back, always at others, but never at our own hands or at the job opportunities that the Lord has given us, never to our own situation. … Not even in our own poverty.
This brings us to center of the parable: the work of the servants, which is Service. Service is our job too; it makes our talents bear fruit and gives meaning to our lives. Those who do not live to serve serve little in this life. We must repeat this, and repeat it often: he who does not live to serve, serves little in this life. We must reflect on this: who does not live to serve, serves little in this life. But what kind of service are we talking about? In the Gospel, good servants are those who take risks. They are not fearful or overly cautious, they do not cling to what they possess, but put it to good use. Because if goodness is not invested, it is lost, and the greatness of our lives is not measured by how much we save but by the fruit we bear. How many people spend their lives simply accumulating possessions, worrying only about the Good Life and not him well what can they do. Yet how empty is a life centered on our needs and blind to the needs of others! The reason why to have gifts is so we can be gifts for others. And here, brothers and sisters, we should ask ourselves the question: do I only follow my own needs, or can I look at the needs of others, of those who need it? Are my hands open or closed?
It is significant that four times more than the servants who invested their talents, who took risks, are called “faithful”(Vv. 21, 23). For the Gospel, faithfulness is never risk-free. “But, Father, does being a Christian mean taking risks?” – “Yes, my dear, take risks. If you do not risk you will end up as the third [servant]: bury your skills, your spiritual and material wealth, everything. Take risks: there is no loyalty without risk. Faithfulness to God means laying down our lives, allowing our carefully laid plans to be interrupted by our need to serve. “But I have my plans, and if I have to serve …”. Let your plans be altered, go and serve. It’s sad when Christians play defensively, content just to keep the rules and obey the commandments. Those “moderate” Christians who never cross borders, never, because they are afraid of risk. And those, allow me this image, those who take care to avoid risk begin in their lives a process of mummification of their souls, and they end up as mummies. Following the rules is not enough; Faithfulness to Jesus is not just about not making mistakes, this is bad enough. This is what the lazy servant in the parable thought: for lack of initiative and creativity, he gave in to unnecessary fear and buried the talent he had received. The teacher actually calls him “wicked” (v. 26). And yet he did nothing wrong! But it didn’t do anything good either. He would rather sin by omission than risk making a mistake. He was not faithful to God, who spends freely, and further compounded his offense by returning the gift he had received. “You gave me this and I give it to you”, nothing more. The Lord, for his part, asks us to be generous, to overcome fear with the courage of love, to overcome passivity that becomes complicity. Today, in these times of uncertainty, in these times of instability, let’s not waste our lives thinking only of ourselves, indifferent to others, or fooling ourselves by thinking: “peace and security!” (1 tes 5: 3). Saint Paul invites us to look reality in the face and avoid the contagion of indifference.
So how do we serve, how God wants us to serve? The master says to the unfaithful servant: “You should have given my money to the bankers, and when I came, I would have received what is mine with interest” (v. 27). Who are the “bankers” who can provide us with long-term interests? They are the poor. Don’t forget: the poor are at the heart of the Gospel; We cannot understand the Gospel without the poor. The poor are like Jesus himself, who, although rich, emptied himself, became poor, burdened even with sin: the worst poverty. The poor guarantee us an eternal income. Even now they help us enrich ourselves in love. Because the worst type of poverty to combat is our poverty of love. The worst type of poverty to combat is our poverty of love. The book of Proverbs praises the woman rich in love, whose value is greater than that of pearls. We are told to imitate that woman who “opens her hand to the poor” (Prov 31:20): that is the great wealth of this woman. Extend your hand to the poor, instead of demanding what you lack. In this way, you will multiply the talents you have received.
The Christmas season is coming, the Christmas season. How often do we hear people ask, “What can I buy? What else can I have? I must go shopping ”. Let’s use other words: “What can I give to others?” To be like Jesus, who gave himself and was born in the manger.
Now we come to finish of the parable. Some will be rich, while others, who had abundance and wasted their lives, will be poor (see verse 29). Then, at the end of our lives, the truth will be revealed. The pretense of this world will fade, with its notion that success, power and money give meaning to life, while love, the love we have given, will reveal itself as true riches. Those things will fall, but love will emerge. A great Father of the Church wrote: “Regarding this life, when death comes and the theater is deserted, when everyone takes off the masks of wealth or poverty and leaves here, judged only by their works, they will be seen for what they are: some truly rich, others poor ”(SAN JUAN CRISOSTOMO, Homilies on poor Lazarus, II, 3). If we do not want to live life poorly, let us ask for the grace to see Jesus in the poor, to serve Jesus in the poor.
I would like to thank all those faithful servants of God who thus live peacefully, serving others. I am thinking, for example, of Father Roberto Malgesini. This priest was not interested in theories; he simply saw Jesus in the poor and found meaning in life by serving them. He dried their tears with his tenderness, in the name of God who comforts them. the starting of his day was prayer, to receive the gifts of God; the center His day was charity, making the love he had received bear fruit; the finish it was his clear testimony of the Gospel. This man realized that he had to reach out to all the poor that he encountered every day, because he saw Jesus in each one of them. Brothers and sisters, let us ask for the grace to be Christians not in word, but in deed. Bear fruit, as Jesus wishes. Let this really be so.
