"Trade with it"
“Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief.” What is this man going to do with himself now since he has abandoned his means of work? Being irresponsible, he has opted for the convenient solution of giving back only what he has received. He will devote himself to killing time: minutes, hours, days, months, years, life itself! The others go to a lot of trouble: they trade; they are nobly concerned with restoring even more to their master than they received – necessary fruit in that the recommendation was very specific: “Engage in trade with these until I come”, take on this work so as to make a profit until your master returns. But as for him, he does nothing; this man wastes his life.
What shame it is to live only to kill time, God’s treasure! Nothing excuses such an attitude. Saint John Chrysostom writes: “Let no one say: ‘I only have one talent; there’s nothing I can do with it.’ With only one talent you can still act in a commendable way.” It’s a sad thing not to turn all our capacities, great or small, to good account, to real gain – capacities that God bestows on man so that he can devote himself to serving souls and society! When a Christian holds back through egoism, when he hides away, takes no interest, in a word when he kills his time, then he runs the strong risk of killing his heaven too. He who loves God does not limit himself merely to putting all he owns, all he is, at Christ’s service: he gives his very self.