The fall season sends an open invitation to take part in stewardship. With the winter season approaching, the hungry and homeless need our time and attention more than ever.
Who will provide for the less fortunate if someone doesn’t step up to volunteer? The job is too big for one person or even a few. It takes all of us stepping forward to meet the needs of our communities during the next few months.
Yet, stewardship is not just about stepping up during the holidays. It is about continuing the Christian influence in our communities, our workplaces and our schools every day. Stewardship is about unselfishly giving of our “time, talent and treasure” moment by moment as God calls us to meet the needs around us. This responsibility is not just about donating canned foods periodically or delivering turkeys once a year. It is about searching inside for our talents, taking the time to listen and using our resources – however meager they may be – to support others.
When thinking about each of our gifts, I am reminded of the parable of the talents. In Matthew 25:14-19, Jesus tells a story of a master who is going away on a journey. Before he leaves, he entrusts three of his servants with his property. He gives each a different portion according to their abilities. To one he entrusts five talents, to another two talents, and to a third, only one talent. At once, the one who had received five talents went out and traded with the five talents, doubling his profit by earning five more talents for his master. Similarly, the one entrusted with two talents did the same and made two more talents. But the third tenant, who was entrusted with just one talent, went and dug a hole in the ground to bury his master’s money.
As you might have guessed, this parable goes far beyond coins. These “talents” are just that – gifts of talent. The overall theme of this parable seems to be investing our resources wisely. However, as we open our eyes and hearts to the scripture, could there be a deeper message which points to our chief resources being our talents? Matthew recounts how we should use and grow our talents that are given to us as gifts, and not necessarily in terms of money.
In the scripture, the first two tenants, upon their master’s return, came back and settled their accounts with him. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing five more talents. Similarly, the tenant with entrusted with two talents was able to produce two more talents. The master was pleased with them both and recounted, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, so now I will set you over much.” (Mt 25:19-21)
When I envision this scripture, I imagine the tenants being handed small round coins, not unlike the Host we receive each time we come to Mass. Suppose this Host was the talent we were entrusted by the Master each week? But it is not the Master who goes away, it is us; we take our talents within us and go into the world. Do we cultivate the talent within us or do we walk out of the doors of the church, back to our everyday lives, and forget all about it? Do we bury it deep within us, or do we share the gift we have received?
The scripture goes on to say: “He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.” (Mt 25:24-27)
When we receive the Eucharist, do we let it fully fill us? Do we pray for its work within us to strengthen and cleanse us for God’s work?
Imagine that this one Host could magnify all our other talents. Imagine that this one talent could give us the strength, the knowledge and the courage to go into the world to find ways to spread our faith. Imagine that it could give us the ability to spread the love of Christ by just using something simple, already inside of us, that we enjoy and excel at. Our talent may need a little dusting off, or maybe it is a hobby that could just be repurposed.
Could you teach a painting class, using a faith-based theme, for children in your parish? Could you use your cooking skills to serve at a soup kitchen on a weekly basis? Could you sew a blanket for the homeless or knit a cap for a newborn of an unwed mother? Could you volunteer your time as a counselor at a pregnancy care center? Could you teach golf lessons to those who are mentally handicapped? Could you volunteer your services as a contractor or builder to Habitat for Humanity? Could you offer your time during retirement to read to under-privileged children or rock orphan babies? There is something within us all.
We do not have to feel limited by time or treasure. Let the talent we receive in the Eucharist strengthen the talent within us, the talent given by God. How lucky we are to receive these gifts and to receive the strength and words each week that allow them to develop.
“So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mt 25:28-29)
The next time at Mass when you walk up to receive the Eucharist, imagine the Master is handing you a talent to protect and nourish so that it blooms tenfold for Him. Take your treasure out into the world, and ask God to give you the wisdom to let it work for His kingdom.
April Parker is a parishioner of St. Pius X Church in Greensboro, where she teaches third grade at St. Pius X School. She is also a freelance writer and author.