📅 15 November 2026  |  👤  Fr. Jackson D'souza SJ

Today's parable is about the talents entrusted by a man to his servants. We usually connect these talents to our qualities. But today, let us connect them to our soul. Your Soul! Your soul is where your life comes from. Your mind - to understand, to think, and to choose. Your will - to decide, to say yes or no to God. Your conscience - to know right from wrong.

St. Ignatius tells us that we are created to praise, revere, and serve God, and by doing this, we save our soul. So the question is: How big is our soul? The answer is this: God is infinite, and He created our soul. Therefore, the capacity of our soul is infinite. Today's parable comes from Jesus' eschatological discourse - it speaks about the end time of our earthly journey. It speaks of the Final Judgment, and calls us to vigilance, fidelity, and fruitfulness as we await the return of our Master. This reminder is placed at the end of the Liturgical Year, just before the Solemnity of Christ the King. The parable begins with a man who, before going on a journey, entrusts his possessions to his servants, "each according to his ability." Jesus reveals Himself as the Master, whose journey begins with His Ascension.The talents represent the graces, gifts and opportunities God entrusts to each soul for building His Kingdom. And that building begins by building ourselves. 

Now we may ask: Why are these gifts given in differing measures? Why does one receive five, another two, and another only one? Is God unjust? No. Although every soul has the capacity to receive the infinite God who dwells within, not all cooperate with His grace to the same degree. To understand this, let us turn to St. Teresa of Avila and her book, The Interior Castle. She teaches us that the soul is like a castle, in which God dwells in the innermost chamber. The spiritual life is a journey through the many mansions of this castle, drawing closer to union with the One who resides within. St. Teresa affirms that the soul is of "great capacity" because God is present within us. God has placed within each soul every treasure we need. Yet our experience of those treasures - whether five, two, or one - depends on our willingness to embark on the inner journey of prayer, purification, and transformation. 

So, is God unjust? Certainly not. Each of us is capable of receiving His graces in abundance. But those graces can also be lost through negligence and complacency. The servants with five and two talents represent those who cooperate with the grace of God. That cooperation leads to transformation and growth, doubling the gifts received. God wants us to be rich. He wants to multiply every gift we have, and use them for His glory and for the salvation of our soul and of others through us! Are you willing to cooperate with all that God has given you? Or are you ignoring God's invitations? The servant who buried the one talent represents those who, despite having the infinite God within, remain closed to His grace. To bury the talent is to ignore the gifts, hiding them through fear, laziness, or indifference.And the result was severe: "Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten." The grace given for his soul was taken away.

Just like St. Teresa's castle, you don't reach the inner chamber in one day. 15 minutes of silent prayer, Rosary, or reading the Gospel every day is how the soul's capacity grows. Without prayer, the soul shrinks. Your soul is infinite because God lives in it. Don't live with buried talent. Dig it up, use it, and let God multiply it. We pray that our cooperation may be diligent, so that the capacity of our soul may increase and manifest God's glory through Jesus Christ. Amen.