Taking a Risk

When I was in Cub Scouts many years ago, one of our big outings was to Eagle Cave in Wisconsin. My friend John and I were paired up to go on one of the more difficult cave hikes. As we stood in front of an extremely tight space that we needed to crawl through, we looked at each other with a sense of doubt. But John ventured right in. John, who was – shall we say – on the husky side, crawled on the ground and squeezed his way within the tight passageway – where he got stuck. After shifting and maneuvering for several minutes, he eventually got unstuck and made it through. Then it was my turn, and a sudden feeling of panic came over me. Now, I’m not one who is afraid of small, cramped spaces or even what might be crawling on the ground in a dark, slimy cave; but after watching John struggle, I was terrified to go any farther. I was afraid of taking a risk. Luckily, John kept me calm by saying everything was going to be fine, and that there’s no way that I would get stuck. (I was as skinny as a rail at that time.) And if I did get stuck, he said that he would be right there to help me. Well, I easily bellied through and when I emerged out of that tiny crevice, I was rewarded by seeing a vast and beautiful cavern. If I had not taken that risk, I would have not experienced the beauty of the cave.

Looking at today’s Gospel, I think only two of the servants would have experienced the beauty of the cave while the third would have been hiding back in his sleeping bag. Allow me to put a slightly different spin on this very familiar story.

A man is going on a journey and before he leaves, he gives his servants gifts and/or responsibilities and/or directions. When he returns, the servants will be evaluated in terms of how they performed.

In other words, God creates people, and gives them gifts and/or responsibilities and/or directions. After creation, God goes back to heaven, and the people live on earth. But God will return at the death of the person, or at the end of time. Then there will be a judgement. Did the person act in accord with the will of the Creator?

The God-given gifts and/or responsibilities and/or directions which the talents represent is distributed to each one of us, according to his or her ability. Let me go a little deeper.

This first man with five talents gained five more – a one hundred percent return. In other words, he made full use of his opportunities, not for his own advancement but for his master’s. He put the kingdom of God first before his own needs.

The man with two talents had gained two more. Does that mean that it’s only fifty percent? No, that is also one hundred percent. That means that to the limits of his ability he, too, had chosen to put Jesus first. He was not as naturally gifted as the other man, but he was as equally committed. He had risked loss to himself so that his Lord’s work might prosper.

Both of these servants made a conscience effort to do something with their talent or opportunity. They took the risk, and it paid off. They are rewarded and share in their master’s joy.

The third servant immediately begins offering excuses of how he was too afraid to do anything, so he dug a hole and securely hid away his talent. This servant had gained nothing because he had risked nothing. There was no increase because there was no investment. He had the opportunity to give himself to God – but he deliberately ignored it. When his talent was safely buried in the ground, he could simply forget about it and go on and live his own life. 

In his selfishness, he missed his one chance take a risk and use what his master gave him. If he had done so, like the other two men, he would have been changed. For when we take a risk for the sake of Christ, we will find ourselves altered, transformed, and redeemed.

Don’t get confused on the message of this parable. It’s not about doubling money or finding ways to accumulate wealth. If there is one message that Jesus is trying to teach us, it’s this: it’s about taking risks! When you really think about it, the greatest risk is not to risk anything – to not care deeply enough to want to take that risk, to want to take that leap of faith, to want to sacrifice for the greater good, or to want to give your heart away in service to others.

According to physical laws, when a person gives something away, they no longer have it. But according to spiritual laws, when Spirit is given away, there is more of it. There is more for both the one who receives Spirit and for the one who gives it. Two talents become two more; five talents become five more, and on and on. The more we give, the more we receive.

But often times, we are afraid to give of ourselves, to expose ourselves out of fear that we’ll embarrass or humiliate ourselves, or even be looked down upon or chastised. But as my spiritual director always tells me, God will never set us up to fail. So, we need to put ourselves out there and use the gifts that we’ve been given.

Do you know what is one of the most challenging or terrifying prayer that there is? It’s just two words: USE ME. When you and I take that risk with this prayer, we completely open ourselves to allow the Lord to work within us and through us. We allow God to use us where he needs us to be and to do what he needs us to do. And that is frightening, but we have to take that risk. Because each one of us, through baptism, is called to emulate the ministry of Jesus: to feed the hungry, visit the sick and imprisoned, bless the meek, serve the least, cloth the naked, welcome the stranger, respect human life in all its stages, be good stewards of the earth, and treat others with dignity, grace and respect.

These are all part of something that the Church calls Catholic Social Teaching. It’s based on the belief that God has a plan for creation, a plan to build his kingdom of peace, love, and justice.

Our role in this plan isn’t just limited to ‘spiritual’ things or things we might do on Sundays, but it involves every single aspect of our lives and how we live as responsible global citizens.

And that brings me right back here to St. Hubert. We do so much at our parish to help those in need, and we should be proud of all that we do. From food drives, to supporting St. Al’s, to Community Life, to the helping hands ministry to the job and networking ministry to the respect life ministry and so many others. But despite all that we are doing, there is still so much more that needs to be done. So much so, that Fr. Mike has asked me to look into enhancing our peace and social justice ministries here at the parish. I’ve been praying a lot about this, and I ask you to pray for me as well as I tackle this new and daunting challenge.

Does this terrify me? Do I feel like digging a hole to safely hide away my talent? Yeah, kind of – sort of. And yet, I feel the Holy Spirit strengthening me to move forward – to take a risk – and help guide our parish to achieve what we are being called to do. But I cannot do it alone. I am going to need the talents of many because it’s going to take a faith community like ours to bring about the kingdom.

Over the past few months, my heart has been sickened by all the injustices that have been taking place in our world and even here in our local community. So many people are hurting and suffering right now. We really need to step up and spread Jesus’ message of love, care, and concern for all of our neighbors and our environment.

I’ve shared one of my favorite quotes with you before, and it bears repeating again today: “You can’t make footprints in the sands of time if you’re sitting on your butt. And who wants to make buttprints in the sands of time?” When Jesus asks us on the day of judgement, “What have you done since I was gone?” – what is going to be our response?

My sisters and brothers, we are being called to take risks, not to dig holes. Let’s pray for the strength to navigate through those tight, difficult spaces of our inner caves, until we are able to emerge out of the darkness and experience the radiant light of Christ. May we be ready to present ourselves to God not as doers of the bare minimum, but as faithful investors who are fully using the gifts that God has given us – so that one day we can hear those words that we long to hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Come, share your master’s joy.”