LENT SERIES DAY 17: FRIDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT (How can we pray better during this lent?) (https://youtu.be/-eKX2Hn3bmo)
Using Our Talents for the Kingdom
Brethren, the Patriarch Joseph, presented in the first reading, was a dreamer. He incurred the wrath of his brothers by telling them his dreams and because their father showed him greater love than he showed them. They retaliated by selling him into slavery. Jesus incurred the wrath of his fellow Jews because he was the Son of God and told them so. They retaliated by getting him crucified. Great good came out of the evil done to Joseph and Jesus. God used Joseph to save his people from famine. The same God used the death of Jesus for the salvation of the world. That is what always happens when we are made to suffer unjustly, and we refuse to respond with hatred or bitterness. God always writes straight on crooked lines.
Joseph was violently rejected by his brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt. His betrayal and suffering, however, resulted in redemption and reconciliation for his brothers. "Fear not, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today" (Genesis 50:19-20). Joseph prefigures Jesus who was betrayed by one of his own disciples and put to death on the cross for our redemption. Jesus came to reconcile us with an all-just and all-merciful God. His parables point to the mission he came to accomplish - to bring us the kingdom of God.
The parable of tenants in today's gospel, represents our talents. The tenants in the parable used their talents for their own enjoyment, comfort, and entertainment, and they eventually lost everything. When Jesus created us, he gave us talents to use for a mission. Not only are we supposed to work to get ourselves to heaven, but the Lord also invites us to help bring others there as well. The talents and abilities we have are meant to be used for this task—not for our own profit. When we accomplish the Lord’s work, we are rewarded as people “that produce fruit.”
The tenants could have used part of the fruits of their labor to take care of their personal needs (and they would have received even more than they needed), but these tenants wanted it all. In the same way, God allows us to use our talents to take care of our own needs as well as to enjoy life—after all, God ordered us not to work every single day, but to set aside the seventh day for worship, rest, and recreation. However, like the tenants in the parable, we are also expected to make a profit for him. Do we use our talent–our time, energy, intelligence, creativity–for his profit? This is the way we love the Lord with our “whole heart and with all my soul and with all my mind and with all my strength” (cf. Mark 12:30).
How we use our talents determines our final reckoning. Everything in the vineyard belonged to the landowner. The property was his. He planted the vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. All the tools belonged to him as well. The tenants provided only the labor. Our life is similar. We provide only the labor. None of the tools–our talents–belong to us. They come from God. He has the right to expect us to use them, not only for our own needs, but for his profit as well—for the good and salvation of those around us. He sends us people to remind us of this. Do we ignore them? Do we treat them the way the tenants treated the landowner’s servants?
Let us Pray
Lord, so often I forget about you and end up focused on my own goals and desires. Yet you put me here to cooperate with you in your saving mission. You gave me the tools I need to fulfill this mission. Help me to remember this truth throughout my day, to “always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks me for a reason for my hope” (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). Amen
Be blessed.
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