Dear Friends,

In the last two weeks, our homilies focused on Stewardship, inviting us to recognize that all the things we have: our time, talent, and treasure are gifts to us from God. Both last week’s homilies and article discussed the stewardship of TIME, emphasizing the need for us to spend time with our Loving Father. It was essentially about creating time for prayer and for our brothers and sisters. Understood this way, stewardship of time becomes a very important aspect in developing our relationship with God and our community.

The next aspect of our call to stewardship is the use of our TALENTS, which is this week's emphasis both in our homilies and in this article. Today, I invite you to acknowledge that all that we are and all the talents we have come to us on loan from God. He expects us to make use of them to develop His kingdom in this life. We are all gifted by God with a variety of talents: children, young adults, and adults alike, each according to our capacity. This means that He has expectations of each of us to use these talents for His service through our parish community.

It is important to note that the English word “talent” in Biblical times was also used as a currency commonly used at the time. That is why it is very appropriate that we put a value on the abilities or talents that have been gifted to us. In the famous Parable of the Talents (Mt 25:14-30), the master entrusts talents to three of his servants for use before leaving on a trip. We are told the money was loaned to them in proportion to the servants’ abilities. Two of the servants take the money and trade with it, making a profit for him. The third one, on the other hand, buries the money out of fear. Upon return, the master demands accountability from the servants to determine what they had done with the talents entrusted to them. The servants that “invested” the TALENTS wisely are rewarded for the profits they made for their master, while the other lazy servant is chastised for not making use of the money.

This is, similarly, how our God will deal with us. He expects us not to bury our TALENTS but to make use of them not only for ourselves but in the service of others and of our parish. But He has also given us the free will to decide whether we will use these TALENTS or not. He never forces us. In Romans chapter 12, we are reminded that investment of our TALENTS should be in proportion to the gifts we have received because we will also have to account to our Master for all these gifts or talents he has entrusted to us. If we choose to invest them wisely, He has promised to reward us for all eternity. If not, we will lose even the little we have. The choice is ours.

As you look around you at Mass today or at other parish gatherings, just imagine the wealth of TALENTS that is represented by you, our parishioners right here. I have no doubt that there are doctors, nurses, professors, engineers, lawyers, builders, teachers, realtors, IT specialists and a variety of other talents. However, research has shown that only 20% of parishioners use their talents to support their parish. What a wonderful parish we would be if instead of the usual 20%, who participate in most everything in our parish, just 60% more of you actively use your talents through the various ministries in our Church! The impact of your increased participation would be profound, fueling our evangelization efforts and transforming our parish into a vibrant community. We would be unstoppable in our mission to make our parish what we want it to be.

This is precisely why we are taking the whole of this month of September to encourage you to be good stewards of the many gifts the Lord has given you. There are many ways you can do this through the many ministries we are blessed with here in our parish. Some of these include the various liturgical ministries (Altar service, Lectors, Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, ushers etc), Catechetical services through OCIA and Religious Education, St. Vincent de Paul, the Knights of Columbus, among others. It doesn’t need to be a large or overburdening effort on your part, it just needs to be genuine and in proportion to the gifts that you have received. You can do it! And so, apart from just attending Mass on Sundays, what else can you do for your Church using your gift of talents going forward? Think about it. At the end of this month, we shall ask you to make a written commitment of how you will use your talents to serve your church. Please take this opportunity to reflect on your role in our parish and make a commitment to contribute your talents to the service of God and our community.

I love you!

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