September 18^th 2016.Twenty Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Luke 16:1-13

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Luke 16:1-13

Jesus said to his disciples,
“A rich man had a steward
who was reported to him for squandering his property.
He summoned him and said,
‘What is this I hear about you?
Prepare a full account of your stewardship,
because you can no longer be my steward.’
The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do,
now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me?
I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg.
I know what I shall do so that,
when I am removed from the stewardship,
they may welcome me into their homes.’
He called in his master’s debtors one by one.
To the first he said,
‘How much do you owe my master?’
He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’
He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note.
Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’
Then to another the steward said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’
He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’
The steward said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note;
write one for eighty.’
And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.
“For the children of this world
are more prudent in dealing with their own generation
than are the children of light.
I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth,
so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
The person who is trustworthy in very small matters
is also trustworthy in great ones;
and the person who is dishonest in very small matters
is also dishonest in great ones.
If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth,
who will trust you with true wealth?
If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another,
who will give you what is yours?
No servant can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and mammon.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The Gospel is difficult this week because it seems to commend the dishonest steward who uses his master’s wealth to make friends for himself in his hour of condemnation. But the message is ultimately a simple one: the goods of this world are to be used at the service of others, to lighten their burdens, to foster communion between us. They are not our true master, but are entrusted to us by our true master in the service of others. When we serve our earthly master, when we seek possessions, fame, positions for ourselves, then we are led into conflict with others. How many families become estranged over the family inheritance! But once we serve our true master, then we lose these earthly things and we gain our brothers and sisters. The parable is an invitation to reflect on the way we have administered the goods that God has given to us, the wealth we possess, the talents, gifts and opportunities that God has bestowed on us. How many of us would feel comfortable if God asked us today to give an account of how responsible we have been? We are all called to put ourselves in the position of the steward of the parable: imagine that out time of service is coming to an end and the Lord is asking us how well we have used the things and capacities we have been given. Have they become our master or have we put them at the service of others?

The Gospel is difficult to understand this Sunday. Does Jesus really encourage us to be dishonest with wealth? Or is he more concerned to give us a message about the importance of putting the things under our care at the service of others?

One of the desert fathers said, “Lord, grant that I may love you as much as I have loved sin”. This is a good key for understanding the very difficult Gospel text this Sunday. In the first reading, Amos laments the corruption of the merchants who cheat the poor by altering the readings on their scales. Then we come to this week’s Gospel, which has stretched the imaginations of many people. It tells of the steward who squanders the property of his master. The master becomes aware and calls the steward to him. “Give me an account of your stewardship”, he asks, “for your time of service is ended”. All of this recalls our own situation in life. The rich man who asks for an account of the service rendered to him is unquestionably our heavenly Father. And the steward represents the human person who is called by God to administer the grace that has been bestowed on him. We have been made stewards of creation, blessed with talents and qualities, called to look after the people that have been entrusted into our care. All of these things are goods that belong to God. We are just the custodians. This is true even in the case of our children. Children are not our possessions but a responsibility that has been entrusted to us.

 The steward lightens the burdens of others when he realizes that judgement is upon him. We too are more inclined to forgive others when we reflect on our own failures and irresponsibility before God

One day we will be asked to account for the way we have handled our duties. The state of the entire world may not be our responsibility, but the things that have been entrusted to us are certainly our responsibility! Speaking honestly, who among us has really been true to his duties in a faithful manner? Who among us would be able to face that ultimate weighing scales in a truly confident manner? Each one of us would have something to fear if we were called to account for our stewardship of the things given to us. In the Gospel, the steward’s period of service is being brought to an end, and now he must decide how he is to react. How would we react if we learned that we were at the end of our period of stewardship? The servant in the Gospel is brought to recognize his own limits, his own poverty. He is unable to work manually, and he is ashamed to ask the help of others. So he decides to administer the goods in a different way than previously. He reduces the debts of others and lightens their burdens. How often it happens that we develop a readiness to pardon others when we realise our own state of debt before God. As the Psalm says, “If you O Lord should mark our guilt, then who would survive?” We learn to forgive others their negligence and faults when we become more conscious of how we have failed to respond to God’s grace in our lives.

When we serve the master of this world, then we are led into conflict with others. When we serve the Lord and reject the things of this world, then we are at peace with others

An essential lesson for all of us is that the things of this world are not there to be possessed by us but to be put to service for the good of others. They are to be used to lighten the burden on others, to “reduce their debts”. Who or what do we serve? Do we serve the things of this world, or do we serve God? Once we come to serve God, then the things of this world lose interest for us. Most of our conflicts with others concern the possession of things, fame, positions of prestige, wealth. In other words, these conflicts arise because our master is the things of this world. We learn to love according to the designs of our true master only when we leave the things of this world behind. Sooner or later, we learn that to love someone authentically we have to leave behind the things of this world. If we are attached to the things of this world then it destroys our love for others. Brothers and sisters become estranged when they fight over the family inheritance. Love returns when we realize that it is more important to have a sister than to possess the family property; that it is more important to have fraternal love than it is to defend one’s own little corner; when we discover that the administration of things must be done according to the designs of our heavenly master; when we are motivated not by material gain but by love.