25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Amos 8:4-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-8, Luke 16:1-13
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Last week, we heard how the prodigal son wasted his father’s resources in a life of dissipation. Today’s Gospel story is also about wasting the resources of another. Jesus tells it in order to guide us in how we think about and spend our money.
In the story, a steward wastes the resources of his master. The verb for “waste” is the same verb used of the prodigal son when he wasted his father’s good and loose on loose living (Lk 15:13). The master finds out and is about to dismiss him. The servant changes the bills of his master’s debtors, so that they can pay the master less than they owe him. When the master finds out he commends the prudence of this action, which was designed by the steward to secure him when he is discharged. Jesus concludes from this parable that his disciples should also “make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (16:9).
Today’s question to us is very simple: what kind of a steward am I with all that has been given to me? It is not just a question about the ways that I handle money or material possessions, but a question about who I am and how I live.
The first reading, from the Prophet Amos, describes those who actively plot to defraud others. Probably if we are listening to this homily, we are not people who actively work to defraud others. If we are, we are invited to change our ways! If we are not, then we need to look more deeply at our attitudes towards others.
Am I a person who really tries to see God present in others? Do I really live the reality that we are all the Body of Christ? Do I serve others without hoping for my own gain? Am I filled with the compassion of Christ for others?
The second reading reflects on our need to pray for everyone. The second reading is rarely related to the theme that is put before us in the first reading and the Gospel. Today, however, we can recognize that only in prayer will I come to live fully this mystery of Christ present in every other person. In prayer I must ask for the Holy Spirit to illumine my mind and my heart so that I can live these deepest mysteries of faith with fidelity. This illustrates what we often experience: if I tell one lie, then I have to begin to tell a whole string of lies because of the first one that I told. Cheating is the same kind of reality. It begins to create its own way of living and it is not good for anyone. Yet it brings a momentary gain.
Three other comments follow: use money to make friends for eternity; being trustworthy in small matters and earthly wealth lead to being trusted with true wealth. God’s kingdom; and you have to choose between God and mammon” (whatever you put your deepest trust in other than God). In a nutshell, use your money to serve; allow God to save.
Jesus is in line with the prophet Amos, who castigates the businessmen of his day for cheating the poor and needy. God is on the side of these little ones. They are the ones we are to befriend by using our money for their good. Jesus, who came as a “ransom for all” (1Tm 2:4), is our true wealth.
Peace and all good!
Fr. Valery Burusu
Parochial Administrator