Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with feast of the resurrection of the Lord, as well as the after-feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary!

For several weeks, we have discussed those parables that our Lord Jesus Christ offered to the Jews in the Temple in Jerusalem, as well as those questions that the Jews asked of Christ several days before His crucifixion. We saw that Christ persistently tried to turn the Jews away from their false understanding about the Messiah. The Jewish priests and other religious figures understood clearly what Christ was telling them, but continued stubbornly in their unbelief.

After these lengthy conversations, Christ left both the Temple and the city and alighted the Mount of Olives, where He taught His disciples with parables. There He pronounced three parables (the parables of the unfaithful servant, the ten virgins, the talents). All of them are about the second coming of the Saviour, about the necessity to always be ready to meet our Saviour, for we know not the day nor time that He will come and demand an explanation for how we have lived our life, and that only the watchful servant will enter into the eternal Heavenly Kingdom. It is interesting to note that the Jews understood Christ well when He spoke to them in parables in the Temple, while the apostles, the closest of friends of the Lord, did not catch the meaning of what He was telling them, that is the disciples. Christ, of course, taught about the spiritual Heavenly Kingdom, while the apostles, even after the Resurrection, dreamed of an earthly Jewish kingdom. Until the Holy Spirit descended on them, they had a vague understanding about the message of their Teacher.

Today we heard the very familiar parable about the talents. Let’s remember that the parable is talking about spiritual talents that lead us towards Christ and His Heavenly Kingdom, and not just simply earthly talents. What are these spiritual talents? Prayer; the presence of generosity and joy while giving alms; lightness of heart, or a lack of bitterness when forgiving wrongs; an ability to comfort those who are in sorrow; a thirst to read Scripture, understand it, and pass on the meaning to others, etc. These are all examples of spiritual talents. Playing the piano well or being a talented hockey player bring us no closer to God and is thus not what Christ is talking about here. Each person receives at least one spiritual talent. The world does not have such people that have absolutely no spiritual gifts, unless they themselves bury their talents into the earth.

Today’s parable clearly shows us that it is not all that important how many or what spiritual characteristics we have, but what we do with them. Do we use them to grow spiritually, or do we hide them underground? A fine example of this is the good thief, who did very little kindness throughout his life, but in the dying moments of his life confessed Christ and defended Him from the evil words of the other thief. He used his spiritual talents of humility to admit to his sins and, at the same time, his boldness to stand up for the innocent and thus acquired for himself a place in the Heavenly Kingdom.

It’s important to remember that we are always obliged to work or struggle so as to improve our spiritual state; we have to acquire new talents. It’s not good enough not to sin and to preserve that which we have. Each of us is capable of doing more, and therefore the Lord expects the growth of our spiritual good deeds.

Through the prayers of the Most-Holy Theotokos, may the Lord God help us see our spiritual talents, use them for our spiritual growth, and, in such a way, enter into the joy of our Lord.

priest Alexis