November Issue Reflection

Gifts

“Everyone who has something will be given more, and they will have more than enough. But everything will be taken from those who don’t have anything.”
-Mathew 25:29

At first I really couldn’t understand what the reading meant. But everything seemed clear enough once I read the whole passage. The reading came from the story of the three talents. It was when a master entrusted talents for each of his servants before he left. And when he returned, he found that the first two servants he entrusted talents with made twice as much as what they were given. The last servant however, made nothing. He hid the talents he received in the soil and left it there untouched. So I have come to understand what that part of the reading meant. I understood why the master was enraged when his last servant produced nothing.

“Everyone who has something will be given more… But everything will be taken from those who don’t have anything.” I feel as if it meant that people who had made something out of what they were blessed with will be given more, while the people who had made nothing out of what they are entrusted with will be robbed of what they have in the first place. It might seem cruel when you hear it, but it isn’t at all.

People are given blessings every day. They are given a chance to live life to the fullest. But when people tend to take advantage and squander these given blessings, they end up with nothing. Like a rich man who worked all of his life for his money. Yet, he made no friends, no family, and has given nothing to anyone in return. He hasn’t made a difference, nor changed a person’s life for the better, and he also hasn’t really made anyone happy but himself. That rich man doesn’t have anything. He made nothing out of the life he was given. And in the end, he’ll be so drenched in poverty because the only thing he had out of life was money. He was exactly like that last servant who just dug and hid his riches on the ground, making nothing from the talents he was given. And soon, the rich man—like the last servant—will be confiscated of the riches he was entrusted with by his master.

Blessings

“Life entrusted to a man as a treasure which must not be squandered, as a talent which must be used well.”
-Pope John Paul II

They say that you haven’t really lived until you have done something for someone who can never pay you back.

Blessings are meant to be shared. That way, you’ll receive twice as much as you have been given. It may or may not be in the literal sense, but it’s true. The more you give, the happier you’ll be.

The life we have doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to our parents, our siblings, the people we have to help, the friends we love, the strangers we meet. Our lives belong to this world. It’s not meant to be hidden away for ourselves. It’s meant to be shared. Living a full life means making someone else’s life better. We make use of what we are given to make twice as what we have. Two good lives are better than one.

Everyone who has given something to others will be given more, while people who have given nothing to anyone won’t have anything in the end.

The reading itself was a little confusing and may seem a bit controversial at first. But once you see the whole picture out of that single piece of the puzzle, you’ll then begin to see what truly means.

Give back and God will give you more. God rewards those who have something they have given back. May it be talents or just the action of doing something without asking for anything in return.

Give back what life has given you and you will be rewarded.

“Spread love everywhere you go and let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
-Mother Teresa

Conclusion

“Anything done for another is done for oneself.”
-Pope John Paul II

So in the end, what the passage said was completely true. It’s the truth of life and the truth after it. Give something and you’ll receive more than enough. Give nothing, and everything you have will be taken away. If you have done nothing for another, you have done nothing for yourself.

It’s not a matter of punishment, but consequences. If you have given nothing, you’ll receive nothing, which leave you empty as said. Give everything back, and God will reward you ten times more.

Make everything around you happier, and you’ll be happy as well.

Bless more people with the life you have, and you’ll find yourself more blessed than ever. 

Give back, and God will reward you with more than enough.