Sunday November 16^th 33^rd Sunday… I love Matthew’s parable of the talents and how we may or may not use them well. It reminds of a time when we were children.  We had moved from a three room apartment across the street to a home where an elderly couple had lived.  We found a tent when we explored the garage and decided that we would put on a circus for the neighborhood.  We really did practice for our big show!  The highlights for me were: a neighbor boy and friend who played a “freak with a green and blue eye and holes in his ears”,Father Jim McAlpin and my older sister Susie who twirled the baton extremely well.   Kady (my younger sister), our cousin Cathy and I created some kind of a dance with grass skirts that our father brought us from Hawaii when he returned home from the navy. We thought we were great.

I am not sure there was any talent revealed that day, but the neighbors clapped and we each made between 25 and 50 cents which we immediately  spent at the dime store. I am not sure we had one talent, but this experience taught me the great lesson of sharing the talent or gift I might have, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The hymn we sang for First Vespers was  ‘All That We Have’ by Gary Ault and Gary Daigle with the following refrain:

“All that we have and all that we offer

Comes from a heart both frightened and free.

Take what we bring now and give what we need 

All done in Christ’s name.” 

And my prayer for each of us is that we might:  

recognize and rejoice in the gifts/talents we do have,  

recognize and rejoice in the gifts/talents that others have,

and freely share and receive those gifts/talents

… always recognizing with deep gratitude the GIVER OF THE GIFTS/TALENTS. 

Sister Anne Stedman, OSB