By Shiju Joseph, CSC –
Readings: 1 Thes 4:9-11; Mt 25: 14-30
The story of the three servants who were entrusted with different quantities of talents is an evergreen one. The servants were given a measure of talents ‘according to their ability’. The two that received five and two talents doubled what they got.
The one who received only one talent (who obviously was already adjudged low in ability) proved that he was not trustworthy too. The master did not make any distinction in his praise of the two who doubled what they had received, though one had ten and the other had only four.
He did not count the number of talents, but the fact that they valued what they had been given, used them well with a sense of accountability. What the one-talent servant lacked were these too: an appreciation of what he had been given, and a lack of sense of accountability about what he had been given.
It is so very easy for us to look at our own imperfections, lack of some abilities, lack of opportunities, the people we have to live/work with, the superior that we are given, etc. to justify our own refusal to put to maximum use what we have been given.
The Lord invites us to use what God has given us, however little it is, and to do our ministry/work well, however insignificant it may look to us. May God count us among us those who ‘have been faithful in little things,’ and invite us to ‘enter into the joy of the master.’