Posted by Fr J on Nov 15, '08 8:44 PM for everyone  Today's ReadingsToday's Gospel reading is known as the "Parable of the Talents." According to its usual interpretation, its moral lesson is: "Don't just preserve your God-given talents. Develop them!" To that, we can even add that we should also share our talents with others, in contrast to "burying" them and keeping them to ourselves. But what happens if we've been developing a talent, and then it turns out we don't have that talent, after all?
The other evening, I attended a reunion among my college classmates, and I can't help connecting today's parable to the experience of the reunion. During the reunion I met old college friends--many of whom I hadn't seen since our graduation 25 years ago--and saw how they, like myself, have in many ways changed--and yet in others remained the same. As we table-hopped and updated one another about our lives, we celebrated the successes accomplished and patted one another on the shoulder for the setbacks encountered these past years.
And of course, as in all reunions, we engaged in a lot of reminiscing. When we graduated 25 years ago, the no. 1 song in the Billboard Top 100 was "Every Breath You Take" by the Police and no. 2 was "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. Sting hadn’t yet gone solo, and Michael Jackson still looked black. At the time we graduated, the top grossing movie in the world that year was George Lucas’ “Return of the Jedi.” When we graduated, Ronald Reagan was the American President, and nobody then could ever imagine that someday someone other than a white guy could actually occupy the White House. Back in 1983, when we graduated, Marcos was still President, and Imelda the governor of Metro Manila, and Ninoy was in Boston planning a homecoming in August.
When we graduated, we had such an assortment of dreams. I certainly did. Dreams for ourselves, dreams for the lives we were going to live, and even dreams for the world we were going to change. We dreamed of the careers we were going to pursue and the millions of pesos we were going to make. Some of us dreamed of that first bestseller we were going to write, or the hundreds of lives we were going to touch. We dreamed of that one special soul mate “somewhere out there”--the one single person we were going to love and live with forever, not realizing then that loving and living together unfortunately didn’t always go together forever. We dreamed of the happy family we were going to raise, and all those adorable children who were always going to be obedient and well-behaved—at least before puberty! And of course, many of us, Martial Law Babies, also dreamed of the nation that we were all going to help transform.
It’s been a long time ago. What has happened since then?
It turns out that reunions are not only for renewing acquaintances or for rebuilding long-lost friendships. Reunions also offer a good excuse to examine our lives and the decisions we have made--and yes, to check whether or not we have, as the parable prescribes, developed and made the most of our talents. Reunions provide an occasion for reviewing our dreams and for asking: "What has happened to those dreams of my youth?"
It's a helpful question to ask once in a while. If your life has been anything like mine, you will probably agree that dreams basically end up having one of three fates: First, some of our dreams do end up getting realized, and thank God, they do give us exactly the fulfillment they promise. Other dreams also get fulfilled, but they don't give us the fulfillment we thought we would get from them. They turn out to be some kind of fantasy or sham. And finally, some dreams never get realized at all. Maybe they've always been the wrong dreams for us: They've never been meant for us, and so they have just never fallen within our reach. Or maybe they do get fulfilled, but for one reason or another, they don't last and as sometimes happens in this life of ours, eventually fall apart and die.
After the reunion, I got to thinking about the state of my dreams, especially the dreams of my youth upon college graduation. After 25 years, here I am, a survivor of my broken dreams--but still dreaming. I am grateful for the dreams that have been fulfilled. Ironically, I am also thankful for the dreams that have been unrealized because they have led me to other dreams. Some of them I've been able to revise--the broken, even shattered dreams that, thank God, I was able to abandon and replace with more feasible dreams, or sometimes higher dreams, but all of them more suitable to my talents. Someone once said that the secret to surviving a midlife crisis is the art of revising dreams. Believe me, it works. It certainly helped me survive mine—all six of them!
God, too, has a dream for each one of us. And his dream for us is, in reality--mystics and theologians agree--our deepest desire, the dream that we have been created for from all of eternity. It's up to us to find out what his dream is for us because that's how we will find our deepest joy.
So here's a Quick Question for you: "What is the state of your dreams? It won't hurt to review them and to ask: In my life here and now, is it the season for revising dreams?" Think about it, and if you feel up to it, share a thought, a feeling, or even a question. It might help another reader.
 | Siguro po dahil ako ay magtatapos (sana) pa lang ng kolehiyo narito rin ako sa gitna ng mga landas. Kung saan kailangan ko ng pumili ng tatahakin ko... nakakalito nga po dahil hindi ko alam kung sino ang pakikinggan.
Yung mga magulang ko ba na sinasabing ninanais lang nila ang makakabuti sa akin? O ang puso kong bumubulong na dito ako masaya? O baka yung ibang tao na sinasabing kailangan nila ako?
Pero pakiramdam ko po.... basta ang kailangan kong gawin ay pagbutihin at itaya ang lahat ng kaya ko sa kahit ano mang landas na pipiliin ko. Para sa huli, hindi ako magsisi dahil sa kakulangan ko na magbigay ng mga hiniram ko. |
 | Thanks Johnny! Glad you had a good reunion ( Batch 80 always felt a greater affinity to Batch 83 than the other batches in between!). Much to ponder in this thoughtful piece. |
 | I don't seem to have had many dreams. Wishes perhaps, but not big dreams. I certainly have never been one for ambitious dreams.
That's my food for thought today. |
 | Hi Father.
My DREAM and goal this moment of my life is to pass the Nursing Licensure Examination that I'm going to take(again) this coming November 29 and 30,2008..
Because I believe that my success is not for my own good only but to my family,relatives,friends and the needy.. And I want to share the talent that I had or give service to others even in a simple way
GOD BLESS. |
 | Hi Father!
Thank you for giving us a fresh insight into this all too familiar topic on talents by relating it to the realization of our dreams. As the new semester unfolded two weeks ago, I was faced with young future teachers who had concerns about finding the dreams of their lives in relation to my question why they had to shift courses and the like. I guess a lot of us have locked ourselves into thinking that there's one magical dream that we are all meant to pursue and should we fail to meet that, we end up as one big disappointment to ourselves and to everyone else who expected so much from us. I don't think God is single-minded to allow us to dream only once and not give us second chances.
I also like what you mentioned about surviving broken dreams and picking up shattered dreams. It takes a lot of courage and strength to get through these two tasks and come out whole. As we know and realize from our own experiences and those of others, while not having a lot of talents to go by in this life can seem to be a very big obstacle to success and happiness, the presence of having so many can also be a problem.
I told my students then it is best to accomplish their precious dreams one day at a time and to be ready to revise their dreams along the way. |
 | share your six dreams! :D you're such a tease! |
 | iyaslife wrote on Nov 16, '08, edited on Nov 16, '08 Working with people who have very few options in life made me realize that not everybody dreams or has goals. The ability to dream is a GIFT. There are those who just live to survive. |
 | i remember some lines from high school, oft quoted then as youth is the prime time for dreams. it goes something like this - hold on to your dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. dreams give us hope that tomorrow will be better than today. what we need to realize is that what we want for tomorrow is possible not only because of what we do but more importantly, what God wills. |
 | revisiting and revising dreams. nice :) |
 | The biggest dream I didn't realize was to become a priest. That dream has been re-invented many times and it spinned off to several forms as my life unraveled. I am very much content with the dreams I've accomplished for now. But I hope one day God will grant me a experience of a life of love, service, humility, obedience and holiness that I dreamed of 20 years ago. |
 | alpup wrote on Nov 16, '08 to revise? hmmm..i think it can be revised already but it is not the right time.I'm still young and still have a lot of things to go through so I guess I need and have to experience more for me to be able to relaize what I really like. This is very timely Father cause just today, my 2 day Leadership training in an org just ended and yes indeed it helped me a lot to develop my talent and to share it.:) wasnt able to go to mass..kinda busy sorry..thanks for this Father! God Bless!:) |
 | Very timely Father, thanks for this. This would help me make decisions for I am on a state of revising some of my dreams. |
 | Thank you Fr J for this beautiful sharing re the parable of the talents. :) It is very timely - a moment to take stock of my life at the age of 30. 8 years have passed since I graduated from college. What talents have I developed and cultivated and shared?
I fulfilled my dream of becoming a Pastry chef by saving my salary for 7 years and funded my own culinary education in San Francisco last year. I've been back in the Philippines for more than 5 months and in that span of time I put up my own home-based patisserie, taught at the Maya Kitchen Culinary Center as Guest Pastry Chef , in the process of being a French Pastry supplier for a wonderful restaurant in Serendra and now in the process of finalizing details for the bake sale I am organizing which will be at the Ateneo Grand Alumni Homecoming (theme:" Ang Maglingkod nang Buong Dangal at Galing") this December 6th. I was able to convince the Ateneo Alumni Assoc to give me a free booth because my bake sale is for charity - for the benefit of the two institutions close to my heart - Bilibid Prison and the White Cross Orphanage. With God's help and together with my organization, Filipina Homebakers Online - through our Bake Sale - we will be able to generate enough funds and bake enough goodies to distribute to Bilibid/White Cross.
At this point in my life I am happy that the dreams I have woven for myself have come to fruition because I worked hard for them - the opportunities that have come way didn't just fall on my lap. And yet I feel so frustrated because I am in debt. I can hardly keep up with my credit card bills because the cost of ingredients that I buy for client samples are just so expensive. My savings are dwindling and I feel that if don't do something drastic, I will be in debt for months on end.
My fiance had a talk with me and squared my shoulders. He said : Your dream was to be a pastry chef - you gave up your high paying job to fulfill your dream - stand up for it - be true to the commitments and stop complaining about having no money because you CHOSE your new career.
With that - I take my financial difficulties as a grain of salt. I am sure all budding entrepreneurs are going through the same quagmire I seem to be stuck in. This is my dream - and I need to stand up for it - stick to it - and work even harder. And if I keep at it, then my dream would have been really worth my blood, sweat and tears. |
 | I was waiting for my friend at Cabalen in Makati when a woman, carrying her emaciated child tried to catch my attention by rubbing her empty stomach with a pitiful look at her face. Instantly I turned around to avoid such piercing stare of hunger. When I looked back, however, I was saw a most touching scene when a lady handed her a couple of hundred pesos that changed the beggar's face into deep gratitude.
Developing our talents and skills is one thing far different from sharing our talents and gifts. Developing our gifts and talents is also a privileged opportunity within our circumstances. That beggar may not have the capacity to develop her gifts due to her circumstances such as genetic, malnutrition and behavioral problems. Thus, did she "bury" her talents by being so? Did she have a choice? I doubt it.
Whereas for most of us [reading this blog] had the opportunity to multiply our gifts and talents, not only because have the capacity to do so [high IQ's?] but also the means to achieve our "dreams". This normally guarantees success and stability in life, albeit comfortable lives.
The parable then can be interpreted from inside out. On another plane, it can very well be addressed to those of us who have had opportunities in life, thus, multiplied them into piles of talents. The parable then will have an impact on us when we hoard these talents for ourselves, thus, eventually "burying" them in vaults of selfishness.
"Naku, i-lock mo palagi ang kotse mo dahil baka tutukan ka na lang. Hwag kang lalapit sa mga pulubi dahil baka tangayin ang bag mo. Mga tamad 'yan. Pasiguro ka. Lalo na sa pagsakay sa jeep. Nakakatakot!" Didn't the one with one talent in the parable had so much fear?
The Filipino value of "pasiguro" or "paninigurado" runs counter with the point of Jesus' parable. The Gospel is a challenge to take risks. Like discipleship, it is a lifestyle of receiving, of multiplying, of letting go, and yes, of taking risks. This is not only manifested when we give "dole outs" to victims of devastating typhoons and landslides. Rather, it is a way of remembering that we live in a world we do not create; we receive blessings we do not earn; we use resources we do not own. This story reminds us that if we play it safe and risk nothing in return, we actually risk everything.
Indeed, we play it safe when we stuff our ears with iPods; distract ourselves with the most recent iPhones; busy ourselves with texting while missing a human connection around us. The gap then between that woman with an emaciated child widens and those of us reading this blog goes deeper into the great abyss.
Does revising or revisiting our dreams include a serious desire to place it within the dream of our God and Father? |
 | I remember a scene in the movie "City Slickers" where Billy Crystal asks Jack Palance: "Curly, what's the secret in life?" and Jack answers with a raised index finger: "This!" Billy questions, "What's 'this'?" Jack says, "I don't know. It depends on you."
Revisiting and revising dreams is I think what keeps people going. In a sense, we're all trying to make our lives meaningful by dreaming and re-dreaming. [Of course, we'll need to act on our dreams.]
I've experienced retreats to be a very good way of reevaluating dreams. These "sojourns with God" often result in multiple directions (always confusing) which prompts me to make a choice. The consolation I get is that in any direction I go, I made it with Him, and He'll be there, broken dream or not.
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 | Fr J, not only are you good at revising your dreams, but also at emending your blog post.:-) Thank you for this thoughtful, personal piece you shared with us. This last paragraph you added resonates well with me. With all the dreaming that we do through all the twists and turns in life, we eventually - with God's grace - come to realize that ‘Father knows best’, after all. Placing our full trust in Him (suscipe), we need only earnestly seek, day after day, what it is that He dreams for each of us, even if it takes us the rest of our lives. For all we know, our very seeking is part of that dream. (You do keep count of your ‘midlife’ crises, don’t you? Am sure you’ll survive the next ones. So dream on!) |
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In my life here and now, is it the season for revising dreams?" 