Using our talents well

The meaning of today's parable of the talents, probably one of the best known, is so obvious that it has entered our languages with the meaning of a 'God-given' ability.

And yet the parable is about much more than using and developing properly our native abilities. In Matthew's context, Jesus' last major speech, the parable is addressed to all Christian disciples, and the charge of the master is nothing less than the whole mission of the Church, that of living and spreading the Gospel and establishing other communities of Christ's disciples.

The wherewithal for conducting this mission is symbolised by the word "talent", which in those days was equivalent to a huge sum of money, probably a whole year's salary.

A wealthy man, needing to undertake a long trip, entrusted his talents to his three administrators: he gave five talents to one, two to the second, and finally one to the third. The greater the amount, the heavier their responsibility in administering them prudently and making them yield as much profit or interest as possible.

When the master returned home, the first two servants returned double what they had been given and were rewarded. But not so the third one. He does what seemed to him the most responsible thing: he kept the one talent safe by burying it securely in the ground and, when the master was back, he was content to return it to him intact.

The parable is addressed today to all Christians who think they are doing God's will when they are simply preserving intact for their own benefit what they have been given, rather than putting it to good use by investing it fruitfully not only for themselves, but also for the benefit of others.

In the case of many Christians, the reason behind their unfruitful behaviour may not be only their laziness, or even the fear of losing it, but also, and perhaps above all, their lack of interest in the good of others and their lack of a genuine sense of responsibility with others who may have benefited from them.

"No man is an island", it has been said. As human beings, but especially as Christians, we all 'belong' to each other. We are all children of the same Father.

In the eyes of God and in God's plan we all constitute one family. Each one of us holds responsibilities also as far as others are concerned. Blessed Pope John XXIII said something which has almost become commonplace: "We are not on earth to guard a museum, but to cultivate the flourishing garden of life."

This garden is the Mystical Body of Christ, the entire Christian community but most especially the fellow human beings among whom we live and work day in and day out.

At a time when many were preoccupied with keeping the deposit of faith secure, Pope John called for a new venture of renewal and dialogue in our life of Christian discipleship and mission.

"Noblesse oblige!", says an old French proverb. The more we have been granted, the greater our responsibility. As together we make up one whole thing, especially as members of the one Mystical Body of Christ, whatever we have been endowed with by the Creator, in all truth belongs to all.

We would be quite selfish if we were to make use of it for our own benefit alone. It belongs to others as much as it belongs to us. Robert Baden Powell, of the Scouts movement, has put it this way: ''Usefulness is the rent we pay for living here on earth!"