Daily Gospel Reflection for November 16, 2014

Today’s Gospel: Matthew 25: 14-30

I’ve always hated the Parable of the Talents because I’m not a savvy investor. I don’t like risk. The stock market doesn’t thrill me, it annoys me. I want to put my money in the bank and not worry about having to get a great return on my investment.

Of course Our Lord was speaking in parables as a way of teaching something about God, not as a threat to those of us who aren’t cut out for investment banking. Having set that misunderstanding aside, it turns out I also hate the parable because of something else it doesn’t mean.

As a girl growing up, I was sometimes told, “What a shame it would be for you to just stay home and raise your children. You are much too smart for that. It would be a waste.”

I knew this was wrong. Some years into having left a career in order to stay home and wipe noses (I’m not really a very good nose-wiper, either), the question was put to me: Don’t you have anything better to do?

And my answer was a firm: Why, no, I do not. Other people might have better things to do with their lives, but of all the choices before me, this one is my best.

We all have these gifts the Lord gives us. Things we know how to do well, and things we stink at. Certain demands on our life that create responsibilities, and certain responsibilities that we’ve been spared. We might have the gift of wealth or health, or we might have the gift of poverty and suffering. Or something in between.

When I take stock of it all, how am I using what the Lord’s put in my jar? Not my friend’s jar, not my classmate’s jar, not the jar of that person I secretly envy. Mine. Am I serving the Lord with what He’s given me today?

Ponder:

The Lord isn’t asking me to use gifts I don’t have. He isn’t asking me to do the impossible. He’s only asking, What are you working on there? Is it for Me? What am I working on? Is it for Him?

Pray:

Dear Lord, sometimes I haven’t got a clue what you want me to do with my life. I can’t be everything and do everything, and I get so overwhelmed just figuring out if I’m doing what You have planned for me. Then there’s the part where I think I know what I should be doing, but I don’t do it. Please help me to seek your will, listen to You, and give myself completely to You. Thank you. Amen.

Copyright 2014 Jennifer Fitz