In order to answer the question What have I done with the gifts that have been entrusted to me?, we first have to identify what those gifts are. The spiritual practice of counting one’s blessings comes to mind. We should make it a regular practice to list all of the things God has blessed us with. In doing so, we fulfill St. Paul’s advice from the second reading this Sunday to think about “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious…any excellence and…anything worthy of praise.”
Hopefully, contemplating all of the good gifts which God has entrusted to us will give us a profound sense of gratitude for the great love and care He has for each one of us. Even in tough times and trying circumstances, God’s blessings abound. The Lord is constantly pouring out His grace upon us. We simply need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and count those blessings.
At the same time, giving thanks for the gifts God has given should also grow in us a deep sense of commitment to use what we have been given, both for the Glory of God and the good of our fellow human beings. What we have been blessed with we are also responsible for.
This is where the two stories of the vineyards from this Sunday’s other readings appear. Our life, and everything we have been graced with, is God’s gift to us. What we do with it, and how we use it, is our gift back to God. If we neglect the gifts He entrusts to us, wasting our time on distractions and the like, we produce wild fruit unworthy of God and His great gifts. If, in greed, we horde out gifts for ourselves, we fall into violence against God and those He sends to us. Eventually, we lose the life God wants for us, thus dying in our own selfishness.
Instead, let us truly respond to God’s loving gifts with sincere gratitude, realizing everything good we have is, first and foremost, a gift from God. Then, let us dedicate ourselves to developing and using all that we have in order to produce good fruit that will last, therefore glorifying God the Giver.
Fr. Chris Talbot
