Please read the passage before reading the homily.
My sisters and brothers,
What is a talent and what was it worth? For us, it stands for the gifts and abilities we have as human beings. At the time of Jesus, it was a unit of money, worth what a person would have earned by working every day for eighty years. Can you imagine having all the money you have earned in your lifetime given you today? How about receiving that amount two times over, or five times?
This parable is about a lot of money; Jesus is not talking small stuff, but big, huge stuff. When Jesus started talking about such huge sums, he probably had everybody’s attention.
A man went on a journey. He entrusted his possessions to his servants. To one he gave over 3 million dollars and another 600 thousand. While the master was away, the servants doubled what he had given each, except for the third servant, who hid his master’s money.
The two who worked with what they had received doubled what they had, whereas the third one found he had nothing. The first two enjoyed into the joy of their master, while the third became homeless and had to live on the streets.
Although Jesus is somehow with us always, in another aspect, we live in the time between the first coming and the last coming of Jesus. We are the Church waiting for the master to return, waiting and using the gifts Jesus has left with each of us. We have bank accounts with extravagant talents and gifts that we have to work with so that we can double our gifts.
Several consequences come from the above considerations. We are rich in gifts; we have them to use for God’s programs; we are important, and we are capable people. We cannot afford to hide our gifts or pretend that they do not exist. The Lord will come; he will review our accounts. He ants us to enter into his joy.