For I am a daughter of the King, and I – like you – am fearfully made…
I have been reflecting on the parable of the minas, when the king left his servants to invest his money while he was away and rewarded those who invested the money and punished the servant who packed it away…
“A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’ He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’ ‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’ The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’ His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’ Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’ His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’ Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’ He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’” (Luke 19:12-28).
And I have been reflecting on this today on New Year’s Day. You see, I set my New Year’s Resolution yesterday on the eve of this new year, and now, I am considering why I did what I did…
You see God is like the king in the parable because God provides me with talents in much the same way that the king provided his servants with the minas. And God expects me to make an investment of my talents. He did not give them to me and then say, I am coming to check on how you are going in a week or a month or a year – or even in ten or twenty years… He said, here are your talents. USE THEM NOW!
And so today, as I consider what it is that I have been called to do before I die, I understand the purpose of that parable as though it had been written for my soul alone twenty centuries ago… For I know that a promise or a wish or a desire is not enough for my Beloved. For I am called to holiness and I am called now. And Saint Josemaría would advise that I must work to become holy, for he said, “We have to toil away each day with Jesus”.
“Our Lord has given us as a present our very lives, our senses, our faculties, and countless graces. We have no right to forget that each of us is a worker, one among many, on this plantation where He has placed us to cooperate in the task of providing food for others. This is our place, here within the boundaries of this plantation. Here is where we have to toil away each day with Jesus, helping him in his work of redemption. Allow me to insist. You think your time is for yourself? Your time is for God! It may well be that, by God's mercy, such selfish thoughts have never entered into your mind. I'm telling you these things in case you ever find your heart wavering in its faith in Christ. Should that happen, I ask you — God asks you — to be true to your commitments, to conquer your pride, to control your imagination, not to be superficial and run away, not to desert.” (Saint Josemaría, Friends of God, p.49).
And this year, I plan to use all the gifts and talents that God has provided to me – for His greater glory. You see, it is in me that God has made His investment, and He deserves to reap what He has sown…
For I am a daughter of the King, and I – like you – am fearfully made…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.