The master in today's parable stands for Christ. The servants stand for each one of us. That's the first lesson we should think about. Do we think of ourselves as servants, as dependent on God?
In this fallen world, most people tend to think of themselves as the center of the universe. And our contemporary society, so full of technological power and easy pleasures, increases that tendency of our fallen nature.
But this parable and many others are very clear: we are not God; we are not the center of the world; we are dependent upon God and our job in this life is to know him, love him, and serve him.
Only by doing that will we find the happiness we desire, because doing that is what we were created for. Squirrels were created to be cute and bury nuts. Humans were created to know, love, and serve God.
And the parable also tells us how we are supposed to do that. God has given each of us a certain number of "talents." In Greek that word referred to a large sum of money. In the actual meaning of the parable, however, it refers more to what the English word implies - all the abilities and blessings we have received from God.
God has given them to us, and we are free either to squander our gifts, burying them in the hole of self-indulgence, fear, laziness, and greed, or to use them as Christ would have us use them, which is the secret to happiness in this life and the life to come.
There are three steps we must follow in order to invest our gifts well - from a supernatural perspective.
First, we must identify what our gift is. We should always thank God for all countless blessings, but we should also reflect on the one or two strong characteristics, traits, or talents that God has given us personally.
The second step is to get right with God and stay that way. The third servant left his life-mission unfulfilled because he didn't have a good relationship with his master.
We will follow his tragic path unless we pray daily, clean our consciences every week or every month by going to confession, and continue to study the Bible and Church teaching; this is how we get to know our Lord and Savior and stay connected to the vine; and unless we do that, our talents will bear no fruit.
The third step: put our gift at the service of others. Be creative, be courageous, be like Christ! He left us his new commandment - to love one another as he has loved us.
Today Jesus will give us yet again the perfect example of this self-giving in this Mass, through the Eucharist. When we receive him in Holy Communion, let's promise that starting this week, we will go out and courageously invest our God-given gifts.