Of Gifts and Talents
Saturday, August 29th Readings Reflection: Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Gospel is the parable of the talents, in which God, the Master, punishes His wicked servant for not multiplying his talents. In writing about this parable, St. Thomas Aquinas explains that the talents signify “the diverse gifts of grace: for as a talent is a weight of metal, so grace is a weight which inclines the soul itself; hence love is the weight of the soul” (Commentary on St. Matthew’s Gospel).
The three servants received three different amounts of talents, pointing to the “diversity of graces” about which St. Paul writes (1Cor 12:4 DRB). Elsewhere in his epistles, St. Paul also writes that each child of God is given grace “according to the measure of the giving of Christ” (Eph 4:7). God does not bestow the same gifts upon everyone; rather, some have more or less of one gift than another has. This reflects the wisdom of God in entrusting to each soul exactly the right amount of each gift whereby God may be the most glorified by that person.
After distributing the talents, the Master departs for His journey. By this is symbolized, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, the reality that God allows us to use our free will in regards the gifts that He has given us. We may choose to use these gifts, or we may choose to disregard them. He permits us to make our own choice in this matter, having metaphorically departed on His journey.
The servant who received five talents trades with them and gains five more by his labors, which Aquinas recognizes as the cultivation of virtue. By the practice of virtue, we grow in virtue ourselves and also lead others to virtue. Likewise, the servant with two talents gains two more talents. However, the servant who had received one talent buries it in the ground, which St. Gregory the Great compares to hiding one’s gifts “in sins of the flesh, or in temporal things” (Commentary).
After a long time, the Master returns and reckons with them, a scene that foreshadows the Final Judgement when all men shall be judged. The servants must render an account of the way in which they used the talents given them. The Master joyfully praises two who doubled their talents and condemns the servant who buried his treasure. The latter is called wicked and lazy, because he spoke wicked things about his Master and refused to labor in order to double his talents like the other two servants. As Aquinas succinctly summarizes: “When the Lord gives virtue, and you are zealous to use it well[,] [your virtue increases]” (Commentary). Having reached his Final Judgement without having used and increased his gift, the wicked servant is condemned to the twofold punishments of Hell: the punishment of loss, which is the loss of God’s presence for eternity, and the punishment of the senses, that of wailing and gnashing of teeth in eternal darkness.
Today’s Gospel reminds us of the importance of using the gifts that God has given us for His glory. By cultivating virtue and using our holy knowledge and talents prudently, our gifts can multiply by bearing fruit in others. God has given each of us gifts, and it is false humility to try to conceal these gifts rather than use them to glorify Him. True humility consists not in hiding our gifts but in exercising them for the glory of God, Who has given them to us. May we always accept the grace to humbly use our gifts, persevering in the cultivation of virtue and seeking to lead others to God by so doing, in order that we may not merit a damnation of torment but rather an eternity of joy in the presence of our loving God.
This article has amazing insight. I too, couldn’t make sense of it as I was stuck in the money aspect. In light of the other article you published on persecution, the diligence on cultivating virtue makes this more poignant.
Excellent, most helpful and thought provoking! Even those things that seem bad or unhelpful can be a gift to be used for others, for ourselves and to glorify God. St. Paul tells us in a couple of places to praise and thank God even for that which seems awful because it can be a gift from God in disguise!