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.”
Homily
I once asked a friend why there was so much corruption in our land. The person replied with a bit of wisdom which I had never heard. She said to me, “When we make money our God, we can never have too much of it because only our God can fulfill us totally.”
The Gospel passage after telling us that the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light, goes on to tell us that we cannot 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.”
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Mammon or money is extremely important in life. Almost everything which we do depends on money, be it education, food or health care, be it leisure or vacation time. Because of that we tend to build up our hidden stocks in case of the proverbial rainy day. Money however is also needed to fulfill the works of charity. Money is needed to respond to the needs of those on the margins, the widows and orphans of the scriptures. While we increase our bank balances, there are many who suffer want. For this reason the Fathers of the church say that the money hidden in banks belongs to the poor who need it. Money is therefore a good thing. The love of money is what destroys the spirit of compassion in human beings. In the Gospel reading we have an example of the wrong use of money which exists even today. It is money used wrongly for personal benefit instead of going where in justice it should go. In essence this is the meaning of the parable of the unjust steward who cuts his masters profit so that he will benefit. In our age we call that kickbacks. It is the love of ease and comfort which moves the unjust steward to cut his master’s profits. “To dig I am not able to beg I am ashamed.” And so for his own personal benefit, the unjust steward is involved in corrupt practices. But is that not the same temptation that so many undergo and to which unfortunately many succumb. Unfortunately comfort and ease in our age is equated with money and so the love of comfort and ease equates with the love and desire of money and St. Paul tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil.
This is why one of the evangelical counsels is poverty. This is why religious, consecrated priests, and lay persons all take a vow or at least a promise of poverty. This is why Francis, bishop of Rome has called us to be a poor church for the poor. May all of us, you and I accept the call of Pope Francis and not make money the goal of our lives, so that with money we can serve God who lives in the humblest of our brothers and sisters.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, to have any other God but you is to be idolatrous. Help us your people not to fall into the trap of turning money into our god. Help us to understand that money is only a tool to help us to express our love of neighbor and our love for You. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our mother and Jesus your son. Amen.
