“Well done, my good and faithful servant… Come, share your master's joy.” Mt 25:21
From the Angelus message of Pope Benedict XVI, Nov. 16, 2008
[Today’s] Gospel passage recounts the famous Parable of the Talents… The "talent" was an ancient Roman coin, of great value, and precisely because of this parable's popularity it became synonymous with personal gifts, which everyone is called to develop… The man in the parable represents Christ himself, the servants are the disciples and the talents are the gifts that Jesus entrusts to them. These gifts… represent the riches that the Lord Jesus has bequeathed to us… His Word, deposited in the Holy Gospel; Baptism, which renews us in the Holy Spirit; prayer the "Our Father" that we raise to God as his children, united in the Son; His forgiveness, which He commanded be offered to all; the Sacrament of His Body sacrificed and His Blood poured out; the Kingdom of God, which is God himself, present and alive in our midst.
This is the treasure that Jesus entrusted to his friends… Today's parable stresses the inner disposition necessary to accept and develop this gift. Fear is the wrong attitude: the servant who is afraid of his master and fears his return hides the coin in the earth and it does not produce any fruit. This happens, for example, to those who, after receiving Baptism, Communion and Confirmation, subsequently bury these gifts… beneath a false image of God that paralyzes faith and good works, thus betraying the Lord's expectations. However, the parable places a greater emphasis on the good fruits brought by the disciples who, happy with the gift they received, did not keep it hidden with fear and jealousy but made it profitable... Yes, what Christ has given us is multiplied in its giving! It is a treasure made to be spent, invested and shared with all…
The central message… concerns the spirit of responsibility with which to receive God's Kingdom: a responsibility to God and to humanity. This attitude of the heart is embodied perfectly in the Virgin Mary who, on receiving the most precious gift of all, Jesus himself, offered him to the world with immense love. Let us ask her to help us to be "good and faithful servants" so that we may one day enter "into the joy of our Lord".
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