The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-28)

It is a simple story that our Lord tells here. A man who is preparing to leave on a journey entrusts his possessions to his servants. He distributes his wealth among three servants, apportioned to them on the basis of their abilities. To the first he entrusted five talents, to the second two talents, and to the third one talent. The first two servants quickly272 set to work with their master’s money. The third servant did not invest his master’s money at all; he dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. When the master returned, the first two eagerly met their master, apparently delighted in the opportunity to multiply their master’s money.273 Both were commended as “good and faithful servants”; both were rewarded with increased responsibilities in their master’s service; both were invited to share in their master’s joy.

The master’s dealings with the third servant is a very different matter. This servant came to his master with only the talent his master had originally entrusted to him. He did not increase his master’s money at all. In fact, if this were to take place today, that money would likely be worth less, due to inflation. This servant offered a feeble excuse for his conduct. He told his master that he was a harsh and cruel man, a man who was demanding, and who expected gain where he had not labored. He contended that this is why he was afraid to take a risk with any kind of investment. And so he simply hid the money, and now he returned it, without any gain. The master rebuked this slave for being evil and lazy. He took his talent from him, gave it to the one who earned ten, and cast this fellow into outer darkness, .....

All belongs to God, yes, we all agree on that, He is the ultimate owner by fact of being Creator.

This is basically summed up as The owner is God and the servants are just stewards of his possessions.?

As the parable of the talents indicates we are given this gift and we should grow it, live out the grace and move on our path of sanctification.

We can give our hearts to anyone we choose, just as in the parable we can do what we will with the talents given -- Mark 25:14-30

16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

"Put the money to work" -- this means used the gift, maybe even lent it to someone else, right?

The teaching we all know is that our hearts are gifts from God -- this has been Church teaching at least 1900 before the phrase "stewardship of the heart" -- and you can freely use your body, heart, soul, homes, family, country for good or evil -- as you pointed out, this is free will.

You are the ultimate steward as in you choose what to do with the gift, but you can also, like the people in the Parable of the Talents, lend, give your gifts to another to make it grow.

If I take this further -- if you are given the money by your master, to make it grow in say the stock market (let's assume it's not a down-cycle year!), you invest individually. You can also invest as a group (a mutual fund). In the mutual fund you are still the steward of your money/heart, but you ask someone else to help you make it grow -- you do not give it in the sense of permanent transfer, because it's not yours to give permanently, but you can give i.e. enlist a mutual fund manager to help you and others in the group to grow together in grace.

you are dedicating, consecrating it for a use, to grow as we see in the Parable of the Talents

consecrate: to devote or dedicate to some purpose: a life consecrated to science.

Now as in the analogy of the MF mgr, or even better as a focusing point, from what I understand of that dedication it was specifically for the conversion of Russia, just after communism triumphed there.

I don't say this and was still in my pre-teens when communism fell, but let me repeat to you my conversations with people from Russia, Poland, Serbia and other parts of the Eastern block -- these are people aged 30 to 60 who lived through communism:

In the 80s, right up until 85, no one believed that communism would fall in their lifetimes. It seemed impossible, the state was too strong, too all-pervasive.
Even in Poland which never had the intense collectivisation as in Czechia or Russia or the Ukraine, where some private businesses were allowed, no one believed it would collapse, no-one even believed it would change or soften in their lifetimes.
It was impossible
The election of the first Slavic pope gave hope, but hope that sometime in the future there would be some change.

Yet, something happened -- so incredibly quickly no one completely understands why or how. It seems miraculous, isn't it?

And I believe that it WAS miraculous -- a whole dedication of millions of prayers, of "talents", the concentration of the grace, freely given by the stewards to be used for a particular purpose, to collapse communism -- and it worked.

Maybe?

Communism I'm convinced was collapsed through prayer. The focal point of that prayer was the "conversion of Russia", the dedication of prayers, of these talents of these graces given to us, the stewards of this -- the focal point was focused on the Kremlin and it worked a miracle!

By focusing our prayers, by consecrating/dedicating them to a particular cause we can work global-level miracles like the fall of communism

As Christ pointed out in the parable of the Talents, we must use our gifts and increase them -- and how does it increase? By putting them to good use to increase the bounty for Christ

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.