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Saturday, 27 August 2016

因為我害怕 I was afraid

八月廿七日 聖莫尼加(瑪25:14-30
「因為我害怕,所以我去把你的『塔冷通』藏在地下;」(25:25

天主按自己的肖像創造了人(1:26),並把世界託付給人類管理和開發(2:15)。作為一個合理的主人,天主當然分配給工作的人,足夠的裝備,去完成祂委派的任務。所以,當主人給第三個僕人一個『塔冷通』,僕人就應該好好運用手上的一個『塔冷通』,做好主人所委派的工作。故事中的僕人錯在哪裡?錯就錯在沒有運用天賦的才幹,埋沒了天主的恩賜。所謂「天生我才必有用」。多有多用,少有少用。總不應把它埋沒不用。這樣做,豈不是枉費主人對你的信託嗎?

再進一步考慮,僕人因為害怕失敗,害怕不能達標,所以索性把才幹埋沒了。這做法合理嗎?首先,他為甚麼害怕呢?原來他的主人「在沒有下種的地方收割,在沒有散布的地方聚斂」,是一個「刻薄」的人(25:24)。姑勿論這個「刻薄」的評價是否正確,「開荒、下種、散布、收割和聚斂」都是僕人應做的工作,主人當然不會親身開荒下種的。倘若憑經驗的鑑定,有必要增加裝備資源,去開發新的領域,就應該向主人報告,要求增加裝備,或者想辦法令手上的裝備,發揮更大的效率,絕對不應把這些裝備埋藏地下。所以,即使「害怕」是事實,埋沒才幹仍是不合理的,是對主人缺乏認識、缺乏信心的表現。這是大忌。難怪主人要嚴懲他了。
聖父啊!當我力有不逮時,請給我支援,成就祢的意旨。亞孟。

生命恩泉


"I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground." (Matthew 25:25)

God created men in His image (Genesis 1:26) and made men stewards to manage and develop the world (2:15). As a reasonable master, God must have provided His workers adequate equipment to accomplish the tasks assigned them.

Thus, when the master gave the third servant one talent, the servant should have made the most out of the one talent in hand to finish the tasks assigned him. What wrong has the servant done? His mistake was his failure to use his talent. He buried it. As the idiom goes, "Every dog has its day." The more you have, the more you can do. If you have less, then you do less. How can you simply throw your hands in the air? If you do, you fail your master's trust in you.

Let's go one step further. The servant buried his talent because he was afraid of not meeting the target. Was this action reasonable? First of all, why was he afraid? It was because his master was "a hard man, reaping where he did not sow, and gathering where he did not winnow." (Matthew 25:24) Never mind whether this assessment was accurate or not, "ploughing, sowing, reaping, winnowing and gathering" were supposed to be tasks of the servants. Nobody expected a master to do these menial tasks. From experience, if you needed more equipment and energy to develop a new frontier, you should have reported to the master to ask for more investment, or if that failed, to work more efficiently with whatever you had in hand. You could not simply bury your talent. Therefore, even if the fear is real, burying one's talent is unforgivable. It only shows that you do not understand your boss and you lack faith in him. This is the biggest mistake an employee can ever make. No wonder the master had to punish this servant severely.
Heavenly Father, when I am not capable, support me to accomplish Your will. Amen.

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