November 19, 2017
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Matthew 25:14-30
The talents that the Master entrusts to his servants are his possessions for the purpose of generating more gifts and talents in his household, to which the servants belong. The talents belong to the Master — not to the servants. The first two servants in the Gospel reading are able to trust in order to do just what the Master has asked them to do — that is, to be generative — so that, when the time of accounting and reckoning comes they will be able to show the fruit of the Master’s own generativity. The Master is in effect sharing the gift of his own generativity.
The last servant refuses to do what the Master asks him to do; he instead thinks of the entrusted talent of the Master as his own autonomous possession. The last servant who has the least loses that with which he has been entrusted because he has refused to trust the generativity of the Master. The last servant thinks only of himself and fears the risk of generativity, so he buries the talent and stays to himself, thereby refusing the stewardship of generativity.
The metaphor of the talents in our Gospel speaks to the Lord’s generosity with us of His many gifts that He has offered to us for our service to Him. In particular, I think that it is appropriate to speak of the gift and purpose of sexuality and the capacity to be generative that is entrusted to each of us as human being — each one of us with a particularly God-given gender that is part of our own nature and not the consequence of our own subjective identification.
The sin against generativity produces a false sense of entitlement and autonomy that is little more than selfishness and fear. It shows itself through such actions as contraception, pornography, fornication, infidelity, the unavailability and insensitivity within the covenantal and sacramental life of matrimony, and even most destructively in domestic violence within family life. The sin against generativity can also produce a similar sense of autonomy among celibate priests and religious. As Pope Francis writes in Evangelii Gaudium, "Today we are seeing in many pastoral workers, including consecrated men and women, an inordinate concern for their personal freedom and relaxation, which leads them to see their work as a mere appendage to their life, as if it were not part of their very identity. At the same time, the spiritual life comes to be identified with a few religious exercises which can offer a certain comfort but which do not encourage encounter with others, engagement with the world, or a passion for evangelization. As a result, one can observe in many agents of evangelization, even though they pray, a heightened individualism, a crisis of identity, and a cooling of fervor. These are three evils which fuel one another."
The virtue by which human beings develop and share the entrusted gift of their sexuality is the virtue of chastity. It is through chastity that we are able to show respect and reverence for the gift of sexuality as still belonging to the Lord but as requiring our grateful and attentive stewardship. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of the human person in his or her bodily and spiritual being. The virtue of chastity therefore involves the honesty and integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift." Note that the Catechism uses the term "integration" and uses neither the terms "domination" nor "repression." Chastity develops the gift of sexuality in some people for the virtue of fidelity and love in married life. It will develop in others the integrity of a generous and morally single life. It will develop in still other people the significant expression of celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom in light of Jesus’ celibacy through the lives offered as either priests or vowed and consecrated religious.
The virtue of chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery, which is formation in human freedom. In other words, one is always learning and growing in self-awareness and respect for other people. One can never consider it acquired once and for all. It requires vigilant effort and conscious practice and one should never give in to discouragement — or like the selfish servant in the Gospel, refuse even to make the effort. It involves trust of God and trust of others. The effort required can be more intense in certain periods, such as when the personality of a human being is being formed during adolescence, or during periods of grief or transition. Prayer and an active participation in the sacramental life of the Church — including regular confession and reception of Holy Communion — foster dispositions of honesty and integrity needed to live a generatively chaste life.
The reckoning by the Master spoken of in today’s Gospel is not an impersonal and cold accounting. It is measured by the generativity itself given by the Master; it is measured not by objects but by joy; it is quantified not by productivity of investment but by the selflessness of love. It is the love of the Cross, it is the love of the sacrifice of the Mass at which we, unworthy though we are, are invited to share in the banquet of selfless trust.
