33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time · Matthew 25:14-30
Lectio Divina, 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: don’t let fear bury your talents
To everyone who has, more will be given
This Lectio Divina for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) leads us to Matthew 25:14-30, the parable of the talents. As the liturgical year draws to a close, Jesus reminds us that everything we are and everything we have is a gift God has placed in our care, and that the life we have received calls for a response. This is not about producing results to earn his favor. It is about stepping out of the fear that paralyzes us and letting grace grow in us and through us. We invite you to pray with the text through the five steps of the Augustinian Recollect method: Lectio, Meditatio, Oratio, Contemplatio and Communicatio.
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit,
through whom every faithful soul
that believes in Christ
is made holy
and becomes a citizen
of the City of God.
Come, Holy Spirit,
open us to the promptings of God;
set your fire within us,
enlighten us and lift us up to God.
Saint Augustine · En. Ps. 45:8 · Sermon 128:4
Gospel
Matthew 25:14-30
At that time Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was about to set out on a long journey. He called in his trusted servants and handed his property over to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to a third one, each according to his ability. Then he went away.
The servant who had received five talents went off at once, put them to work, and gained five more. In the same way, the one who had received two gained two more. But the one who had received a single talent went and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
The one who had received five talents came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. Look, I have gained five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in small things; I will put you in charge of great things. Come, share in your master’s joy.’
Then the one who had received two talents came forward and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. Look, I have gained two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in small things; I will put you in charge of great things. Come, share in your master’s joy.’
Last of all, the one who had received one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter. So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’
His master answered him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, so that on my return I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have in abundance; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. As for this useless servant, throw him out into the darkness, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.’”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
01 · Lectio
What the text says
Saint Augustine · Exposition of Psalm 139, 15
Rejoice in listening to God, and let it be need that moves you to speak; then you will not be one who talks too much, and you will let yourself be guided. Why do you want to speak and not to listen? You always want to be outside, and you refuse to be within. The One who teaches you is within. When you teach, you go outside, toward those who are outside. Within, we hear the truth; but we speak to those who are outside our heart.
When we tell them about the things we think and hold in our heart, we convey them through a kind of image of those things that is stamped within us. If others were entirely within, they would truly know what is in our heart, and we would have no need to speak to them.
If you delight in speaking, do not puff yourself up on the outside, or you may be unable to pass through the narrow gate, and your God will not be able to say to you, “Enter into the joy of your Lord.” Instead, because what you loved was outside, he may say, “Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness.” By declaring that it is bad to be cast out, he shows that it is good to enter within. For what did he say to the good servant? “Enter into the joy of your Lord.” And to the wicked one? “Cast him into the outer darkness.” So let us love what is within more than what is without. Let us find our joy in what is within, and give ourselves to outward things not by desire, but only by necessity.
Commentary
Don’t let fear bury our future
Everything we have received is meant to be stewarded, not hidden away and left to waste. Our life, our abilities, our dreams, our hopes and the person we are slowly becoming over the years are all called to serve the Kingdom of God. That is our responsibility.
God has given to each according to his ability. We have not all been entrusted with the same amount, but we all share the same responsibility: to make what we have received grow.
The third servant has a serious problem, and we may recognize ourselves in it. He believes his master is harsh and unfair, that he demands “impossible” results, and it is this false belief that leads him to failure. Distorted images of God, or a relationship with him that has lost its way, breed a fear that paralyzes. We don’t even try the smallest alternative, like putting the money in the bank to earn interest. We simply do nothing. Fear, selfishness and preoccupation with ourselves can lead us to justify standing still.
The ending is striking: everything is taken from him and he is thrown out. It seems unfair, but that is not its deeper meaning. If the talent stands for responsibility, more is entrusted to the one who has made what he had bear fruit. Grace is not a business transaction: the life we have received asks for a response, and it grows precisely through that response.
The harshness of the ending is meant to wake us up. Our fruits reveal whether we truly desire to share eternal life with him. Saint Augustine gives us a key: the joy of the Lord is found by entering within, while those who live poured out on the surface of things end up in the outer darkness.
02 · Meditatio
What the text says to me
“He called in his trusted servants and handed his property over to them”
We are the ones portrayed in this parable. The Lord has given us life, intelligence, abilities, attitudes, the restless longings of the heart and, above all, the freedom to choose. In this act of love, God entrusts his creation to us, and with it comes our responsibility to answer for what we have received.
Do I recognize what God has entrusted to me, and do I take responsibility for making it bear fruit?
“To everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have in abundance; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away”
God’s grace is superabundant; we need not doubt it. He pours out grace upon grace in our lives. Yet we are called to respond to that love and to make his gifts bear fruit. Whoever closes himself off from God and does not put into practice what he has received ends up wasting it. Everything that comes from God is meant to bear fruit and build up his Kingdom, not to stay buried.
Am I making the grace and the gifts God has placed in my hands bear fruit?
03 · Oratio
What I say to God
You are good, Lord,
for you are my Creator.
You are my good,
and I thank you
for all you have given me since I was a child.
Thank you, Lord.
You are my sweetness,
my honor,
my trust.
Thank you for your gifts;
but keep them safe for me,
for if you keep them for me,
all you have given me will increase,
and only then will I reach perfection.
Saint Augustine · Confessions 1, 20, 31
04 · Contemplatio
Help me remember you, Lord
In silence…
We contemplate
Notice how each servant responds differently to what he has received. Linger especially on the servant who, out of fear, hides his talent.
Let yourself be seen
Do I recognize the gifts God has placed in my hands and give thanks for them? Am I making them bear fruit, or am I settling for keeping them safe?
Remain
Ask the Lord for the freedom and trust you need to place your gifts at the service of his Kingdom.
05 · Communicatio
In him we are all one
In community…
Share
Each person shares which word or which character in the parable touched their heart, and what they have discovered about how they are living the gifts and responsibilities God has entrusted to them.
Discern
What fears, attitudes or comforts keep us from placing our gifts at the service of others?
What is the Lord asking of us so that what we have received may bear fruit?
Walk together
Let each person name one gift they need to place more fully at the service of others.
As a community, choose one concrete initiative where you can share your abilities and respond better to the needs of those around you.
Closing prayer
Thank you, my Lord
Thank you, my Lord,
for all you have given me
and inspired in me at this moment.
May my restless heart
never stop burning
until at last
it comes to you,
my one true love.
May all things be
for the greater glory of your name,
and may we all be one soul
and one heart
turned toward you,
our God.
Amen.
Prayer for vocations
May your voice reach many hearts
Lord our God,
let the call of your voice reach many hearts.
May they rise up and live united in you.
Prepare their hearts with your Word,
so that they may be ready to bring the Good News to the poor
and to tend your abundant harvest.
Lord, may all who are called to Augustinian Recollect life
hear your voice and fulfill your will.
Amen.
And now…
If this Word has stirred something in you, don’t bury it. Take the next step.
Let yourself be stirred →PredicAR · Augustinian Recollects