IF YOUR TALENT CAN'T SAVE YOU, NO OTHER TALENTS CAN

 *Sunday, November 19, 2023* 

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year A.

First Reading. Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31

Psalm128: 1-5 (R. 1a)

Second Reading. 1Thessalonians 5:1-6

Gospel. Matthew 25: 14-30

TOPIC FOR REFLECTION

 *IF YOUR TALENT(S) CAN NOT SAVE YOU, NO OTHER TALENT CAN.* 

My dear, please kindly pay attention to what I want to tell you.

Talent is your treasure, do not allow God to regret giving you such a treasure.

The wise discover their talents and use them to better their lives and others. Meanwhile the foolish are those who refuse to discover theirs, and those who discover their talents but are not satisfied with them become sad, and frustrated, and fight those who use their talents very well. 

Such fools live in permanent bondage of envy and jealousy.

Therefore...

**If you want to enjoy your life, discover your talent.

**If you don't want to be frustrated, become sad and depressed, do not envy the talent of others, else you remain sad till you go to the grave. You will be sad on earth, and lose heaven.

Remember how the guy given one talent was punished and condemned to hellfire because he refused to use it

**If you want to be saved, use your talents judiciously 

God gives talents according to the capabilities of the individual, and such talent is to save the receiver and others. God is never partial, only Him knows the reason He gave you that your talent you do not like.

Today's Gospel is about the servants who were given talents according to their abilities, to one person five, to another two, and the last person one.

The last person was angry because he was given only one talent, and he went to hide it, claiming the talent was too small.

My dear, here is the personality of this person 

1. He is lazy, only a lazy person gives excuses about tools.

2. He has a jealous spirit by envying the others who were given more talents than him

3. Even if given five talents, he will complain that the master wants him to overlabour more than the others, and he will not even use it

4. He is selfish

5. He is wicked and heartless

6. He does not love his master or any other person. 

7. Because he is lazy, as a result, he lacks initiative, no common sense, etc.

8. He has a chronic inferiority complex

9. He lacks contentment. 

10. He lacks vision and mission

Some of us Christians are like this last servant given one talent to trade with.

My dear, try to discover your God-given talent, use it to win souls for God, to better the lives of others, and do not become jealous of those who are multi-talented. 

Let me sight an instance; let's assume your God-given talent is hospitality/welfare, and people feel comfortable around you anytime you attend to them, but because your talent is not the type that makes you command the crowd, you begin to feel uncomfortable with it, and starts to envy the person with the gift of eloquence. In that case, you have invited depression.

So, do not bury your talent, use it to help others with love.

Do not become jealous of the talent you do not have.

 All talents are to be harnessed together to make our society great and to make heaven proud of us.

As stated in the first reading, Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain. That talent that charmed you may be deceitful, certainly, you will not have the ability to use it properly.

Your talent is your light, but you will remain in the dark if you do not use your talents.

St. Paul said: You are all sons of light and sons of the day if you use your talents to help others. So, we are not of the night or darkness. So then let us not sleep by allowing our talents to be useful as others do. 

So, no single effort we make as a Christian that will not be rewarded by God.

Keep using your gift/talents to win souls for God, you are saving yours too, you will not regret it. Trust me.

 *Peace ✌️ be with you* 

 *Rev. Fr. Segun Oladeji, CRS.*