Dear Brothers and Sisters, Fiat!
In this penultimate Sunday of the liturgical year, the Gospel presents to us the Parable of the Talents (cf. Mt 25:14-30). Before setting off on a journey, a man gives his servants talents, which at that time were coins of considerable value: he gives five talents to one servant, two to another, one to another, to each according to his ability. The servant who had received five talents was resourceful and he traded with them, earning another five. The servant who had received two behaved likewise, and acquired another two. However, the servant who had received one dug a hole in the ground and therein hid his master’s coin.
Upon the master’s return, this same servant explained to him the reason for this action, saying: “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground” (vv. 24-25). This servant did not have a trusting relationship with his master, but was afraid of him, and this hindered him. Fear always immobilizes and often leads to making bad choices. Fear discourages us from taking the initiative; it induces us to take refuge in secure and guaranteed solutions, and thus end up not accomplishing anything good. To move forward and grow on the journey of life, we must not have fear; we must have faith.
This parable helps us understand how important it is to have a true concept of God. We must not think that he is a cruel, hard and severe master who wishes to punish us. If this mistaken image of God is within us our life cannot be fruitful, because we will live in fear and this will not lead us to anything constructive. On the contrary, fear paralyzes us; it causes our self-destruction. We are called to reflect in order to discover what our idea of God really is. Already in the Old Testament he revealed himself as “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex 34:6). And Jesus always showed us that God is not a severe or intolerant master, but a father full of love, of tenderness, a father full of goodness. Therefore, we can and must have immense faith in him.
Jesus shows us God’s generosity and care in so many ways: with his words, with his gestures, with his welcome toward everyone, especially toward sinners, the little ones and the poor. But he also does so with his admonitions, which show his interest so that we do not pointlessly waste our life. Indeed, it is a sign that God has great esteem for us: this awareness helps us to be responsible people in all our actions. Therefore, the Parable of the Talents reminds us of a personal responsibility and of a faithfulness that even becomes the ability to continually set out anew, walking new paths, without “burying the talent”, that is, the gifts which God has entrusted to us, and for which he will call us to account.
On May 26, 1935, Jesus told Luisa that fear, be it even holy fear, is always human virtue, it breaks the flight of love and gives rise to dread and hardship in walking on the way of good; it causes one to always look to the right and to the left, reaching the point of fearing the One who so much loves her; it takes away the sweet enchantment from the trust that makes her live in the arms of her Jesus; and if she fears too much, fear disperses Jesus and causes her to live of herself. On the other hand, love is divine virtue, and with its fire it possesses the purifying virtue to purify the soul from any stain; it unites her and transforms her into her Jesus, and gives her such trust as to let herself be captivated by her Jesus.
The sweet enchantment of trust is such and so great that they captivate each other, so much so, that one cannot be without the other; and if she looks, she looks only to love the One who so much loves her. So, the whole of her being is enclosed in love; and since love is the inseparable child of the Divine Will, it therefore gives the first place of dominion to the Divine Will. God’s Will extends within all the acts of the creature, both human and spiritual; It ennobles everything, and even though the human acts remain in the shape and matter with which they were formed, and they undergo no external change, all the change lies in the depth of the human will, because everything she does, even the most indifferent things, is changed into divine and confirmed by the Divine Will. Its crafting is incessant, and It extends Its dwelling of peace over everything that the creature does.
Therefore, let’s banish all fear. In the Divine Will neither fear nor dread, nor lack of trust, have any reason to exist; they are things that do not belong to God, and we must do nothing other than live of God’s love and of the Divine Will. One of the purest joys that the creature can give God is trust in Him. God feels her as His daughter and He does with her anything He wants. Trust reveals Who God is – the immense Being, His goodness unending, His mercy with no limits; and the more trust God finds, the more He loves her and the more He abounds toward creatures.