RECTOR’S MESSAGE

In ‘The Parable of the Talents’ we find an interesting personal development gem. Although the
word “talents” in the story refers literally to money, we can obviously extend the meaning to
other areas of our life. As our students bring out the House Magazine, “Reach Out”, and give
expression to their literary talent through creative writings and collections, I can compare talent
to this aspect of their life.

First, this parable states that we all begin our life at different positions. Some of us are born
into abundance. Others are born into scarcity. But what matters isn’t what we’re given — it’s
what we do with it that matters. One person earns five talents, another earns only two, but both
are congratulated equally because both achieved a 100% gain.

If you happen to be one of those who are born in abundance, don’t feel so proud and arrogant
that you’re above others. If you have abundant talents, you should expect even more from
yourself. Similarly, those who are born into scarcity should do the best you can with it, and even
though your gains appear small from an external standard, by Jesus’ standard you’ve still made a
notable accomplishment.

Another interesting aspect of the parable is that our talents are entrusted to us. We are stewards of
talents and we should utilize them to please God, the giver of those talents. If you can write fairly
well, believe that this talent is entrusted to you for a particular purpose. You can either bury it,
out of fear or you can strive to create increase.

Yet another important aspect to remember from this parable is that Jesus refers inaction to being
wicked. In other words, if you do nothing with your talents, if you hide or bury them in the
ground and hoard them, you are choosing to be wicked, lazy, and worthless. You are supposed to
invest what you’ve been given.

What’s the ultimate reward for the faithful servant? One’s true reward is to share in their
master’s happiness. So happiness is the reward, and happiness comes from serving others and
‘Reaching Out’ to others through our talents.

As Jesus implies in ‘The Parable of the Talents’, creating abundance requires you to move
beyond fear. If you’re too fearful or suspicious or distrustful, you’re going to bury your talents.
And this leads to “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” i.e. sorrow and depression. You might think
that fear and suspicion will keep you out of trouble, but really they’ll just cause you suffering
and pain.

To live a life of abundance, one must ultimately move beyond fear and work to create abundance
for others. Otherwise one will ultimately be cast out as worthless. So reach out with your talents
to create increase for others and happiness will be your reward. Bury your talents, pain and
sorrow will be the harvest you reap. The choice is yours.
 A Big Fight in Vidya Niketan

Life is a process of constant change and growth. Therefore, every person has to grow up in
various dimensions of life in order to lead a happy life and be of service to others. This process
of growth can be very challenging and mystifying especially for young people. As one young
person put it, “One minute it seemed like everybody took for granted that I knew what to do
when I really did not; and the next minute everybody was telling me what to do as if I knew
nothing.” This dilemma can be the part and parcel of every young person and therefore
reflecting on one’s life becomes a prerequisite to march ahead with a clear vision for growth and
maturity. So we, the seminarians at Vidya Niketan, Mysore, stimulated by “Janssen Academy”, a
forum for organizing various activities to enhance our intellectual and creative skills, chose to
reflect on our life in comparison to our companions in the society outside through a debate on the
proposition, “Outsiders have an edge over Seminarians.”

The above proposition was debated at three maturity levels. First, the spiritual maturity: Do the
seminarians and the outsiders live in intimate communion with God through community and
personal prayer; seek Christ in faithful meditation on the word of God and in active participation
in the sacraments. Second, the human maturity: Are the seminarians and the outsiders balanced
persons, affectively mature, capable of relating well to others and bearing the weight of
responsibilities. Third, intellectual and social maturity: Do the seminarians and the outsiders feel
secure as regards to their intellectual growth to face the challenges and competition in the
globalized world, communicate God’s love to people in an effective way through loving service
and persevere in the pursuit of truth and values amidst eroding value system.

One each student from each class spoke for and against the proposition. Fr. Joy Thomas SVD
was the moderator for the “Big Fight 2007” The team which defended the proposition strongly
asserted that the outsiders have a clear edge over the seminarians in all quarters of life as they
live amidst lots of challenges and difficulties of life. They impressed upon the audience that the
outsiders are willing to take risk and grab the opportunities to excel in all the areas of life and
thus grow in psychological, spiritual and social maturity. They pointed out that seminarians lack
sufficient challenges and opportunities as they are in a well protected and everything provided
secure zone and so basically remain immature. While the team which spoke against the
proposition claimed that the seminarians are much better off than the outsiders as they are
provided with ample opportunities and time to grow in their spiritual, psychological and social
life. They pointed out that the outsiders do not have neither the guidance nor the system required
to mature intellectually, spiritually and psychologically.

Since it was a “Big Fight” only the moderator could give us the right perspective on the
proposition. Fr. Joy in his concluding remarks drew our attention to the fact that some of the
seminarians as well as the outsiders are quite mature in various aspects of life. However he urged
us to focus our attention on the need of becoming “fully human and fully divine persons” by
attaining spiritual, human and social maturity, so that we can live worthy of our calling.

By: Robin Joseph