The Parable of the Talents serves to teach the faithful of the important lesson that reward is commiserate with risk.

Deacon Ken Kochany, director of Parish Life at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Bay City, Michigan, recently addressed parishioners regarding the parable.

It can be easy to underestimate the value of the currency mentioned in the parable, Kochany wrote. Though the sums appear small, a talent held enough value that the servants could have easily anticipated they would have never been able to pay back any loss.

“But the point of the parable is that failure to invest is worse than risking the investment,” Kochany wrote.

While each of God’s earthly servants is given those gifts according to their abilities to make use of them, so with that gift goes the responsibility to make use of those gifts for the glory of God, Kochany wrote.

“If we are sincerely trying to use our gifts, God is not disappointed with failure. That’s because as long as we don’t give up, failure is learning,” he wrote. “God is disappointed with giving up, or not trying to use our gifts. Failure will be forgiven, but the refusal to use the gift is a refusal of the gift – which is also a rejection of the giver (God).”