Vatican City, 16 November 2014 (VIS) –
At midday, Pope Francis appeared at the window of his study to pray
the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square. The
Holy Father commented on this Sunday's Gospel reading, the parable of
the talents in which a man, before departing on a trip, entrusts to
three servants his wealth in talents, coins of great value, asking
that they make the fortune fruitful. The first two servants doubled
the wealth, but the third, for fear of losing his portion, hid it in
a hole. Upon his return, the master asks for the accounts and, while
he rewards the first two, punishes the third.
Francis explains that the master in the
parable is Jesus, we are the servants, and the talents are the
patrimony that the Lord entrusts to us. “The patrimony of His Word,
the Eucharist, faith in the Heavenly Father, his forgiveness … in
summary, many things, his most precious goods. Not just to guard
them, but to make them grow. While in common usage the term 'talent'
refers to a marked individual quality, such as talent in music, in
sport, and so on, in the parable the talents represent the gifts of
the Lord. … The hole that the 'wicked and lazy' servant digs in the
ground indicates the fear of risk that obstructs creativity and the
fruitfulness of love. … Jesus does not ask us to preserve his grace
in a safe … but instead wants us to put it to the good of others.
All the gifts that we have received are to be given to others, and in
this way they grow. … And as for us, what have we done with them?
Who have we 'infected' with our faith? How many people have we
encouraged with our hope? How much love have we shared with our
neighbour? … Any environment, even the most distant and
impracticable, may become a place where the talents may bear fruit.
There are no situations or places that are precluded from Christian
presence and witness. The testimony that Jesus asks of us is not
closed, it is open, and it depends on us”.
The parable of the talents “urges us
not to hide our faith and our belonging to Christ, not to bury the
Word of the Gospel, but to make it circulate in our life … as a
power that disrupts and renews. The same is true of forgiveness, that
the Lord gives us especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation; let
us not keep it closed up in ourselves, but instead let it break down
the walls that our selfishness has built up, and take the first step
in reactivating paralysed relationships, resuming dialogue where
there is no longer communication”. Pope Francis encouraged those
present to re-read the parable in the Gospel of St. Matthew to
reflect on how we use or hide the talents we receive.
“Also, the Lord does not give
everyone the same things, or in the same way: he knows us personally
and entrusts what it right for us, but there is one thing that is the
same in everyone: the same, immense trust. God trusts us, God has
hope in us. Let us not disappoint Him! Let us not be deceived by
fear, but rather reciprocate trust with trust”.
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