Jesus tells a parable about “a man going on a journey” who “called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.” He gave them different amounts of money, called talents. One servant gave the money back without having put it to use, I knew you were a demanding person,” “so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.”
Sometimes we may think the world is going to break us with all the demands it places on us. It will burden us with expectations and judgments until we carry the unwieldy weight of the disappointment we feel we have become. Why would we not bury what has been entrusted to us? But what exactly has been entrusted to us? Yes, the care of loved ones, the earth and all her beauty. Most especially we have been entrusted with the gift of ourselves. What if we reconsider the import we give to things that worry us and have us feeling fear in response. It is oddly true that the artist Georgia O’Keefe, whose birthday we celebrate this week, once said, “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from a single thing that I wanted to do.” Whether we live with fear and never let it govern us or if we determine to be free of fear, we can live as artists. Can we let that mean, above all other things, that we simply appreciate ourselves? We can receive our ourselves as a work of art and appreciate our meaningfulness. We can become connoisseurs of the beautiful person we are. Connoisseurs look a little more intently, breathe a little more deeply, linger a little more vulnerably. We ponder and wonder and embrace the mystery of the liminal space, the space betwixt and between who we are and who we are becoming. We see what is and also what is obscured needing to be coaxed into the light. When we appreciate ourselves, others, life, perception alone will not do. Significance is needed, the significance of who we are. We are beauty. We have been entrusted with a mission to appreciate our beauty and that of the world that lives and breathes around us.
“Don’t you know yet? Fling the emptiness out of your arms Into the spaces we breathe; perhaps the birds will feel the expanded air with more passionate flying. Yes-the springtime needed you. Often a star was waiting for you to notice it. A wave rolled toward you out of the distant past or as you walked under an open window a violin yielded itself to your hearing. All this was mission.” (Duino Elegies – Rainer Maria Rilke)
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, guide us in appreciating ourselves.
Question: How can I be a connoisseur of my beautiful self?
Nov 19, 2023 Gospel Matthew 25:14-30 Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time