During a time of difficulty and uncertainty, at the height
of the Great Depression, a newly elected President addressed the nation with
these words: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. President Franklin Roosevelt with those words
helped ease the fear of a great nation.
Just some eight years later, as his country was being bombed from the
skies by the Nazi menace, a Prime Minister told an audience of students, and a
nation at large the following: never give in, never give up, never ever give in! Prime Minister Winston Churchill rallied a
nation with his great speech to not give in to fear. In 1978, a non Italian Pope, the first in
centuries, told the Church of Rome, and the universal Church: be not afraid! Pope John Paul II invigorated an ever ancient
yet ever new Church and today we know him as Saint!
Everyone here knows something about fear. At moments in our life we can recall
something that frightened us; something that scared us. All too often, we come to realize that we
truly have nothing to fear!
As people of faith, we are reminded that we should never
fear our relationship with and responsibilities to God!
Today we have a parable from Matthew’s Gospel that clearly
tells us fear has no place in the Kingdom
of God
In today’s parable three men receive talents from their
master. Now talents were very real
tangible things; a measure of value.
Talents were huge, they weighed about 75 pounds. For us, talents should equate to all that is
gift, given to us from God, the loving master!
Now, the first two did something with those talents; they were in right
relationship with the master and they took those talents and they generated
more talents! They trusted in their
master. The third man did not trust. He acted out of fear and simply buried his
talent and gave it back upon the master’s return. He failed because he had a different concept
of the master. He feared him because he
was not in right relationship with the master. His fear of the master prevented
him from doing anything with his talent.
Giving in to fear, he thought his mission too demanding and too
unreasonable. In fear, he was frozen. He thought I shall only do enough to be able
to give that one talent back.
How about us? Do we
fear the master? Do we fear God? Do we see God as such a stern demanding
task-master that we just do the minimum to escape notice and maybe somehow we
will just get by? Or like the first two
servants, who took the talents and made even more, do we trust? Do we value our relationship with God as one
of a loving father who showers gifts of love and mercy upon us? In confidence, do we go out, with all the
Father gives us and give more?
That’s really what this parable is all about! In right relationship with our heavenly
Father and in total trust, do we take all that he gives to us and go out and
share that gift with all we meet! This
week, we should read and then re-read this Gospel and act not in fear but in
trust and double our talents by serving one another. In the week ahead, fortified by the lesson of
this parable, we too can examine our own lives and ask in faith, what still
scares me, of what am I truly afraid. Then
reflecting on this beautiful parable, can we begin to replace our fears and
anxieties with total trust in a Father who truly loves us?
Remember, the words from our 2nd reading today:
you are not in the darkness, no, you are children of the light! You are children of light! Fear has no place in the Kingdom of God
Comforting words: The
only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
FDR
Never give in, never give up. Sir Winston Churchill
Be not afraid. St. Pope JPII
And these words, perhaps the most comforting of them
all: well done, my good and faithful
servant; come and share your master’s joy!
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