Over the course of my lifetime I have had many people who have inspired me to do my best. The first were my parents and grandparents as I was growing up. They were there to encourage me to explore things I might be interested in and to use the talents I had been given. As I grew older and supposedly wiser I did not always listen very well to that counsel. Then I met a young lady who began to encourage me to look outside of who I was and become a better man. Karen encouraged me to explore things and was there to listen to my fears that I would not succeed. She saw things in me that I did not see, so when we moved from Rochester to Virginia there was a lot of fear on my part. Karen was there for support and encouragement to help alleviate the fear and support our growing family.

That encouragement and support is certainly the case with me giving this homily today. It all began with a seemingly innocent question by a ninth grader about what a deacon does. When I asked Deacon Chris Morash one Sunday morning he answered the question. Then in unison Fr. Rolo and Deacon Chris asked if I wanted to be one. This was where my fear set in and I immediately said no way, I have no time or ability for that. Then when I brought the conversation up to Karen later that day she simply said “I think you would be good at it.”

That was not the answer I had been expecting, but it made me realize there were talents that I have which I had chosen to bury just as we hear in the Gospel today. This was where having a good wife came in handy for me. She was not afraid to tell me what she thought of the idea and encouraged me to explore the opportunity. When I become afraid that I may not be able to accomplish a task, she is there to insure I work for it even though she knew it would mean I would be spending more time doing things outside the home and family.

We have all been given talents, just like the three servants we heard about today. Some have been given more, some less all depending on their ability. The one thing we all need to do is find those talents and use them, not bury them away out of fear. This fear can be overcome by having the support of your family, I know it has helped my children both find their way as Karen has encouraged them in the same way she has encouraged me to excel at what we feel is not possible. Karen’s only reward in all of this is seeing us succeed, which for her is enough.

God has given each of us some sort of talent, with the expectation that we will go ahead and use it for the good of his people and his church. If we hide it away, then when we have to account for it what will we be able to say? Will we have to admit to God we simply buried our talent and felt we would waste if we used it?

The other option is to use your talents to enhance God’s kingdom here on earth. When we do this we will not use up our talent it will expand and allow us to see other talents that we have. My path through the diaconate has certainly provided me with this opportunity. As I said when I was first approached about it I was not just hesitant, but adamant that it was not for me. God had other plans and over the last 6 years, 5 in formation and the last one after ordination I have used talents I was not sure that I possessed. My hope is that some of those who have seen my experience have been touched in a way to help their church, family and community.

If we can utilize our talents for the good of our community and our church we can see benefits from it. When we move forward there will be others that follow our lead, whether for good or not, which is why we need to use our talents as God has given them to us. When we do this the church will come together and grow. When the church grows by using the talents of its members society as a whole can grow and prosper. These talents and abilities that we have been given are to be used for the good of society so that when people look at us they see a person of the light not the darkness.

We are at a time where, our church, our community and our families all need to see the good within the world and work together to expand on the abilities of all people. In doing this we can move toward a more peaceful, compassionate, loving society. We all are leading busy lives, but are those busy lives for the good of all, or are we busy watching our favorite TV show or scanning the internet. When we have to account for our lives, will we be able to say we helped our parish, family or community, or will we have to say we sat on our talents and did little to nothing.

The concept of taking our talents and abilities and hiding them away may seem like the easier way out, and at one point in time I believed that it was. Our God has given us these talents and abilities to use for the good of his kingdom here on earth and in heaven. If we choose not to utilize our talents we will not be doing Gods will but our own. He will make sure that if we put our talents to use in a way that benefits the community of God we will be rewarded for it. There may be times of strife or anguish when we are going beyond what we believe our own abilities are but the community we are in will support us as we move forward. This goes for all in our community from the newborn baby being baptized, to the student moving away to go to college, as well as those looking to expand the churches mission of faith hope and love.