Mass Readings Audio
https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/2020-11-15-usccb-daily-mass-readings
Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 15, 2020
Welcome to the one hundred and thirty-eighth episode of By Your Life. I’m Lisa Huetteman and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life.
My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular business world. It’s my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.
In this edition, we’ll reflect on the readings for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time. (Cycle A) In the Gospel this Sunday, Jesus told the Parable of the Talents. What is memorable about his parable is that the servant who buried his talent was severely punished. But this result is just reflecting a truth. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Hippocrates said this around 400 BC when he wrote, “That which is used – develops. That which is not used wastes away.”, and it is still true today.
That which is used - develops. That which is not used wastes away. ~ HippocratesWe’ve all experienced the effect of this truism. I was bilingual in Spanish and English, but when my family moved back to the States from Argentina when I was seven years old, I stopped speaking Spanish and I’m no longer fluent. When I was in my 30s, I rode my bike 70-100 miles each weekend. After a couple of decades of not riding my bike, it is now an accomplishment to get in 20 miles on a Saturday. If I have cash and I stuff it in a mattress, because of inflation it will be worth less a year from now. If you don’t use it, you lose it is not a severe punishment, it is just stating the truth.
But there is more to this parable than the use it or lose it principle. Depending on who you read, this parable can be interpreted several different ways. I’d like to consider three messages that this parable has for us.
Make Good Use of Your Gifts
First, my bible’s commentary says that “The Parable of the Talents teaches that, even though we do not each receive the same number of gifts, we must make good use of what we have been given by God.”
Even though our gifts are not equal, they are all important. This is also true in every organization where people hold jobs with different levels of responsibility. No job is unimportant, otherwise, it wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) exist. For the organization to operate effectively, each person must fulfill his responsibilities to the best of his ability. If he doesn’t, if he is absent, late, lazy, or unreliable, the rest of the organization suffers.
I tried to explain this concept to an employee years ago. It was my first time in a supervisory role, and she had accepted an entry-level position as a receptionist with the hope that she could move up in the company. But then, she became unreliable and excessively absent. She thought the work was boring and didn’t consider how important that role was to the organization. I tried to help her understand how her absences impacted our customers and the rest of the team. When she was out, others had to cover for her, and then their work suffered. I also tried to help her realize that if she wanted to be considered for a position of greater responsibility, she had to demonstrate that she was reliable in this position of lesser responsibility. Unfortunately, by her actions, this employee chose to “bury this opportunity in the ground,” and the opportunity was taken from her.
This whole situation was disappointing for me because I had hoped to help this young woman grow into the position she wanted. That was my responsibility as her supervisor. Just as others had done for me, it was my job to share my knowledge and experience to prepare her to take the next step in her career.
We Need Each Other
And that takes me to the second message for us and what the Catechism teaches about the Parable of the Talents when it says, “These differences [in the distribution of ‘talents’] belong to God’s plan, who wills that each receive what he needs from others and that those endowed with particular ‘talents’ share the benefits with those who need them.” (CCC 1937) Although I tried, in this situation with my employee, I failed miserably. But who knows? Perhaps she did learn from the experience of losing her job. I’ll never know.
It is part of God’s design that we need each other. We are created as people who need each other precisely because of our differences. We complete each other. The best leaders are those who understand this. They recognize their weaknesses and surround themselves with people who bring those skills as strengths.
In my coaching practice, I use assessments to help organizations understand their individual and group strengths and weaknesses. If there is a void in a particular behavioral style or skill set in a group, we assess how that style or skill benefits the team to achieve its goals and how the void is currently being addressed. Our assessments are an effective tool to help identify the complementary nature of team members and address the gaps that may need to be filled.
The other benefit of using assessments in a team environment is that it helps the individuals understand other people and the value they bring to the organization. While differences in styles can lead to conflict because the person who is not like you can be very annoying, (and you can be annoying to them too,) focusing on the value others bring helps people to appreciate differences. And we should appreciate them because their talents are gifts from God, so appreciating them is showing appreciation to God. The next time someone annoys you, take a minute to consider what you appreciate about them and you’ll be giving glory to God.
Don’t Let Fear Hold You Back
Whatever our gifts and talents may be, the parable teaches us that we are expected to make good use of them, but we don’t always do that. We can also be like “The man who received one [talent and] went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.” (Mt 25:18) Why did he do that and what is it that gets in our way? Well, the timid servant told us why. He said, “Out of fear I went off and buried [the] talent in the ground.” (Mt 25:25) He was afraid.
This man only had one talent and the others had more. Perhaps he thought he wasn’t good enough. He didn’t think he had what it took. He may have been afraid to lose what he had or disappoint his master. He probably lacked self-esteem and self-confidence, so he was afraid. Yet, as Edmund Burke, the Irish statesman and philosopher said, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. ~ Edmund Burke #leadershipFear can cause us to do nothing. The problem is that when we let fear hold us back, it only adds to our fear. Dale Carnegie said, “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” In admonishing the man with one talent, the master is telling us the same thing. Don’t let fear hold you back.
Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. ~ Dale Carnegie #leadership #courageDon’t worry because you’re not going to held accountable for the same results as someone who has been given more. We should note that the master is just as happy with the servant who was given two talents and returned with four as the servant who doubled his five talents and returned ten. Both were rewarded in the same way. Both were called to share in their master’s joy. (Mt 25:21 & 23) You’re only responsible to do your best with what you have been given, nothing more and nothing less.
The Weightiness of Divine Love
In his book Vibrant Paradoxes: The Both/And of Catholicism, Bishop Barron offers a third interpretation of the Parable of the Talents. After explaining that in ancient times a talent was a measure of silver or gold, and that a single talent might represent as much as 50 pounds of precious metal, and therefore something that was very heavy, he writes, “The talents given to the three servants are not so much monetary gifts or personal capacities; they are a share in the mercy of God, a participation in the weightiness of divine love. But since mercy is always directed to the other, these ‘talents’ are designed to be shared.”
He continues, “The problem with the timid servant who buried his talent is not that he was an ineffective venture capitalist, but that he fundamentally misunderstood the nature of what he had been given.” Bishop Barron speaks of the “Law of the Gift”. He said, “The foundation for this law is that God himself exists in gift form. He is the one who gives. The divine life can only be had when we receive it as a gift, but then, you must give it away as a gift.” As Oscar Hammerstein wrote, “A bell’s not a bell ’til you ring it – A song’s not a song ’til you sing it – Love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay – Love isn’t love ’til you give it away!” And when you do, then you receive more love in return. That is the Law of the Gift.
A bell's not a bell 'til you ring it - A song's not a song 'til you sing it - Love in your heart wasn't put there to stay - Love isn't love 'til you give it away! ~ Oscar HammersteinOne thing you cannot do with the divine life is cling to it or bury it away. You also can’t make it your own private possession. A few years back, I was in a networking group of Catholic business people and our goal was to support each other in faith and in leadership. We had a man come to our meeting as a guest one morning and he never came back. He said that his faith was private, and he was uncomfortable talking about it with others, and he’s not alone. Many people struggle with sharing their faith. Our culture has trained us so. We want to avoid offending someone who may have different beliefs, so we keep our beliefs to ourselves. This is especially true at work. But you don’t have to preach to share your faith, especially sharing the gifts of love and mercy. Give them away at work every day and you’ll share in your master’s joy.
Both Temporal/And Spiritual Gifts
With so many ways to read this parable, which one is right? Our first reading points out that the message of our Gospel is not an either/or, but a both/and interpretation of the parable. We don’t have to subscribe either to the proper use of the temporal gifts God has given us or to the spiritual understanding of sharing the gift of the divine life. Rather, the writer of the Book of Proverbs who praises the worthy wife does so because of both/and. It is because of the abundance of her productive work and accompanying prosperity, and the fact that the “true charm of this woman is her religious spirit, for she fears the Lord.”
We, like the worthy wife, are called to do the same. We are called to both share the talents and gifts we have been given for the benefit of others and share the love and mercy that we have received from God. The best description I’ve heard of how this both/and calling plays out in the marketplace was from the CEO of a large professional services firm. He said that everything changed for him the day he realized that the people who worked for him were not there to make his firm successful, rather, God had given him stewardship of this firm so that he could help his employees be successful. With that as his focus, his company has been continuously rated in the top five in his industry as ranked by Forbes.
If we are to be good disciples, we cannot simply bide our time on earth and ignore the need to grow in many deeds of love, especially in service to others, and growing in service to others, is a sharing in the divine life. Both/and living is glorifying the Lord by your life. Let’s pray:
Heavenly Father, as we head off to work this week, we bring your presence with us. Help us to speak your peace, your grace, your mercy, and your perfect order in our places of work. Lord, we thank you for the gifts you have blessed us with. We commit to using them responsibly in your honor. Bless our projects, ideas, and energy so that even our smallest accomplishments may bring you glory. May the work that we do and the way we do it bring faith, joy, and a smile to all that we meet.
May God bless you abundantly this week and may you glorify the Lord by your life.
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