Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
In today’s Gospel, Jesus shares with his disciples a parable of a master and his three servants. The master gives the first servant five talents, the second servant two, and the third servant one. The first servant immediately goes out and makes another five talents, and the second servant makes another two. However, the third servant buries his talent.
Jesus is revealing something very powerful in this parable. First of all, He is revealing that God has given every single one of us unique gifts. Everybody’s gifts are completely different, and there’s a reason for this.
The sad thing is that it can be easy to see our gifts as inadequate. We look at the people around us whom we believe to have the “five talents” while we sit with our single pathetic little talent. We become discouraged and simply bury our talent because “it’s not good enough.” We convince ourselves that because our gifts don’t rise up to a certain “standard” (that we often set), they are useless. This is simply not true! In fact, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
I believe St. Therese of Lisieux is a great example to look at in light of this parable. St. Therese wanted to be a great saint, but realized she could never be as great as the saints of the past. In a sense, she realized that she was only given one talent. However, this didn’t lead her to become discouraged; it led her to discover a new way to follow Jesus—“The Little Way.”
Therese’s “Little Way” was a simple faith in which she strove to do small things with great love. Because she accepted her “pathetic little talent” with joy and humility, she was determined to do every little daily task with great love. Whether it was doing laundry or sharing a meal with her sisters, she did it out of love for Jesus. She lived her life as a little child who completely trusted and abandoned herself to God. She wasn’t worried about failing or being inadequate. Rather she, like a little child, ran as fast as she could towards Jesus. She simply focused on Jesus.
This is what it’s all about. Whether we’ve been given five talents or just one, we are called to focus on Jesus, and Jesus alone. We need to be like little children who run as fast as they can at Jesus and let him use us as he sees fit. Not worrying about failing or being inadequate. But simply focusing on falling in love with Him. Because at the end of the day, that’s all Jesus wants… our love.
Reflection by Trevor, seminarian
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections