[A reminder, this is the text of the homily. To see the video go to our parish Facebook page: https://facebook.com/stpatsak/. Enjoy!
As most of you know, I was in business before I went into seminary. In fact, on the seminary application, it asked, “If you don’t become a priest, what do you see yourself doing in five years?”
I wrote: “Working on the third million.”
But as we see in the gospel today, trade and investing were very much a part of life in Jesus’ day as well. So much so that he could tell the parable of the talents.
- Of course, you know the most successful investor in the Bible was Noah. He floated stock while everything around him went into liquidation.
- The mother of Moses was also a pretty savvy investor, she went the Bank of the Nile and was able to float a little prophet.
So, what is a “talent” anyway? In the Roman empire, when referring to money it was measure of weight in gold or silver. Typically, it was about 72 pounds. So in gold, at today’s market rate of $1889.20 an ounce , a talent would equal about $2,176, 358.40. A pretty tidy sum.
So, one servant gets 5 talents, one gets 2 and the last gets 1. You do the math. They each were entrusted with a huge amount. And the master goes away, for a long time.
I was always curious for about how long. Well, it was certainly long enough for two of them to double their money. So how long would that be?
Actually, it’s not that hard to figure out. In finance, there is a thing called the rule of 72 which states that the amount of time required to double your money can be estimated by dividing 72 by your rate of return. 1 For example: If you invest money at a 10% return, you will double your money every 7.2 years. … If you invest at a 7% return, you will double your money every 10.2 years.
Even assuming a healthy rate of return of 10%. The master was gone for at least seven years. That’s a long time.
So we there are two things that help us put the parable into context:
1. They were each entrusted with a LOT of money.
2. They had at least 7 years to figure out what to do with it.
That’s a lot of money, and a lot of time.
So what can we learn from the parable.
1. God trusts us and he is not stingy. If we think of the talents as representing our families or our parish, think about how much God trusts us!
Those of you who are parents, think about how much God trusts you when he gives you your children? To be entrusted 18 years with another little human life of infinite worth to help him or her grow into a loving, giving adult is truly amazing. Look at how much God trusts you.
And those of us in the St. Patrick’s Parish family, think about how much God has entrusted by giving us this part of the vineyard to tend. All of the souls in 99504. Look at how much God trusts us.
God is not stingy. Neither should we be.
Lesson #2 – Eventually, we will all be held accountable for what has been entrusted to us.
Remember, there is a very deliberate reason this parable is being offered to us as the Church asks us to contemplate the end of the age.
God has entrusted us with much.
We will each be called to render an account of what we have done with it.
To return to the Lord with increase, that with which we have end entrusted.
In short, to leave this world, or at least our little part of it, just a little better than what we found it.
Do a personal inventory. Is your family, your parish, your community, your world, better for having you had you in it?
If we are faithful in small matters, like the first two servants in the parable, we will come to share the Master’s joy.
Lesson # 3: Fear is the enemy.
The last servant doesn’t fair very well.
What was the problem? Fear.
The opposite of love is not hate,
The opposite of love is fear.
Why? Because fear paralyzes us and keeps us from doing the right thing.
It can be fear of failure, fear of being embarrassed, even, ironically, fear of success.
The point here is that this life is not just about asset preservation.
It has everything to do with being about the Master’s business.
As Hunter S. Thompson once said, “Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, “Wow what a ride!”
Three lessons we can learn from the parable of the Talents.
1. God trusts us and he is not stingy.
2. It may take quite a while, but eventually, we will each be held accountable to God for what has been entrusted to us.
3. Fear is the enemy, because it paralyzes us and keeps us from doing the right thing.
No, we cannot do everything, but we can and should do something with all that has been entrusted to us in this life. We may not be called to change the whole world, but we should have a profound effect upon that part of the world with which we come into contact. So that we leave this world a little better than what we found it.
Much of this is summed up in Bishop Ken Untner’s prayer on the occasion of the death of Oscar Romero. Bishop Untner wrote:
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Wow- you need to copy write this and then publish it! I am an old woman and have heard and read many things! You just shared the best of all! THANK YOU
Ah, Peggy, you say the nicest things. Feel free to share with your friends. – LAW