November 16th . Bryan shared, “You know, I always used to think of the parable of the talents in terms of admiring the men who doubled their money and kind of felt sorry for the other who just kept his money safe.  But why should be punished?  Did he really do something wrong, or did he just not do something right, like manage his master’s goods for profit?  Or how important is profit any way?   What would be our task concerning our own talents from God? It does need confidence to be an achiever and there are times, like when we are depressed over difficult situations, that we are hardly able to achieve anything. Would God still be a hard taskmaster?   

Scripture: Lord, here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. Luke 19:11-28.   Pope Francis: The truly popular thing, since it promotes the good of the people, is to provide everyone with the opportunity to nurture the seeds that God has planted in each of us: our talents, our initiative and our innate resources.  LS 162   When we fail to ackhowledge as part of reality the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, a person with disabilities  it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself. Once the human being declares independence from reality and behaves with absolute dominion the foundations of our life begin to crumble.  LS117