On Sunday, I didn’t go to my church for Mass. Instead, I attended serves with about forty women at Cursillo. We were blessed to be celebrating with Father Stu. He touches my heart so very much. The gospel reading for the day came from Matthew, chapter 25, verses 14-30 entitled “The Parable of the Talents.” What Father asked us really hit home.
Since I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a writer like Laura Ingalls Wilder. One rejection of a story sent me on a ten year writer’s block. About four years ago, I started writing again. My retirement opened the door to be able to write with all my new free time. Another writer’s block hit. This summer I contemplated not writing anymore. In September, I forced myself to sit back down at the computer. I floundered.
A number of spiritual nudges happened over the weekend while working the Cursillo. While sitting at Mass on Friday, Saint Francis de Sales came into my thoughts. This writers’ block of fiction hit when I started asking for his intersession. (For any Protestants out there, I know the saints are a tough topic. I believe talking to the saints is just like talking to a loved one who has passed away.) I do need to note, the writers’ block hasn’t affected writing about my faith. Well, Saint Francis and I haven’t bonded like I have with Saint Daniel of Padua and Mother Mary. I have been pretty grumpy with him. As I thought of my writing, yes during Mass, I realized fiction isn’t where I need to be at the moment. I have suspected this for a little while. A topic finally popped into my mind, suffering.
On Saturday during a social time of the weekend, I chatted with a dear fellow Christian writer. We both follow each others’ blogs. I did most of the talking and she listened with a lot of love and patience. Being the dear she is, she told me that she really enjoys my writing. Maybe I am to write more academic then fiction?
As Father Stu gave the homily, he compared the servant placing the talent (a unit of coinage of high but varying value depending on its metal and its place of origin) into the ground as us burying our talents and not using them as God intends us to use them. Ouch! So, what talents are we burying Father Stu asked all of us? This is a very good question. I believe many of us bury our talent to serve. We get so busy with life that we forget to use our talents for our faith, for God. We also bury them because we are afraid we are going to fail. We are afraid to put ourselves out there. I think the reason I have been tempted to bury mine is that it is becoming hard work and I feel lost in this writer’s world. I realized I have to keep writing even if nothing of mine gets published or even if I can’t figure out how to get published. I also have to continue to serve Eucharist and work on the Cursillo weekend where God needs me. I can’t bury my talents. I might need to revamp them from time to time, but I can’t quit.
So what talents has God given you? Have you buried them?
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