The Brilliant Dr. D'Ambrosio on "The Parable of the Talents"

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Dr. Ambrosio pulls no punches from the beginning:

Another Scripture that shatters the picture of Christianity as passivity is the famous parable of the talents (Mt 25:14-30). Note that it is money (yes money!) that the master entrusts to his various servants, different amounts according to varying abilities. Two servants realize that the master wants a return on his capital, so they invest it and each double it. The master does not expect to get the same sum back from these two because they started with different amounts. But they both received the exact same praise because they both gave him a hundred per cent return.

The servant of least ability, on the other hand, buried the money for fear of losing it. Instead of praising him for being conservative, the master is outraged. If you entrusted your retirement nest egg to a stockbroker, and years later it had not grown at all, would you be happy?

The master was angry because the servant had allowed fear to paralyze him. So afraid was he of losing money that he did not even take the very modest risk of depositing the money in the bank (there was no FDIC insurance in those days).

The Lord has entrusted lots of things to us: money, natural talents, spiritual gifts, the saving truth of the Gospel. He expects us not just to conserve these things but to grow them. In the Last Supper discourse (Jn 15) He speaks of the disciples as bearing much fruit. In the parable of the sower and the seed He speaks of grain that bears 30-, 60-, and 100-fold. Whatever labor we are involved in — economic, family, apostolic — the goal should be to develop, increase, and grow what God has given us, for His honor and glory.

This inevitably involves taking risks. It means not letting the fear of failure and ridicule stop us from pursuing success.

Dr. D'Ambrosio reminds us that God had every confidence in us. The master's delight in his successful stewards--and his outrage at his failing one--imply that he believed in all of them. We may not believe in ourselves. We may cower in fear. We may wring our hands in despair as the endless and relentless punches of life continue to fall. It doesn't matter. God has created us and he's counted even the hairs of our heads! We are of such immense value to him that he has carved his name upon the palm of his hand. Indeed, Christ shows this very carving to his apostles after his ressurection. Best of all, God so believes in each and every one of us that he has entrusted us with the fulfillment of his redemption. We, the Mystical Body of Christ, are the instrument through which Christ will unite all people in communion with God.

How can we dare doubt ourselves when he has placed such trust in us?

We need not fear failure. We only truly need to never attempt to incarnate our Faith. That's our way of burying the talent he's entrusted to us in the ground.

We may set forth, confident that we live only to fufill what he trusts us to fulfill. As Blessed Mother Theresa once said, "God doesn't call me to be successful. He calls me to be Faithful."

Let us do the same!