by Fr. John Martin Shimkus, O.S.B.


     “Jesus parable in this Sunday’s gospel is deceptively simple.  Three men get three different sums of money.  Two of them invest it and make more. The third one buries his in the ground and has nothing to show but the same coin he started with.  It seems like an economics lesson like “it takes money to make money”. Yet story is about more than money; it’s about the abundance of gifts God has entrusted to each person and the way in which those gifts multiply as they are used to enrich our world.

     There are so many people I’ve known over the years, people with unique gifts, great and small, that have been a source of great blessing for others and themselves:

-    A young priest with a big heart who is an incredibly good listener. He spends much of his time counseling and encouraging young people at a small private college.

-    A businessman who has a special gift for organization.  He left the corporate world and put his talents to use managing a soup kitchen and food pantry in the local area.

-    A zealous woman with a strong attraction to prayer – now there’s a special gift!  After years of faithfully keeping vigil outside an abortion clinic, she had the joy of seeing that establishment close its doors forever.

-    A long-time friend of our community whose gift was her love and affinity for animals. She spent many years escorting her “therapy dogs” to nursing homes, bringing joy and comfort to the residents there.

     This is really inexhaustible, because in world of the spirit, everything God gives, if used rightly, can be turned to something good, something of lasting benefit to ourselves and others. But it all begins with having eyes to see what our talents are, and being willing to use them as God directs.

     So, what are OUR talents? Are we willing to acknowledge them in all their uniqueness and potential?  Are we willing to use them, to develop them – even the simplest ones – in order to enrich the world and the people around us?  If so, we will be both surprised and edified at the richness and abundance of what God provides in order to bring his love and joy and salvation to the world.  And we will realize that our gifts and talents reflect the infinite goodness of God himself!

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