[Salvation]

“So That When It Fails You…”

Pastor’s Column

25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 22, 2013

 

“I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails,
you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

                                                                   Luke 16:1-13

 

          The gospel that we hear this weekend is found only in Luke. Jesus makes the interesting point that how we use our wealth – our money, time, and opportunities – is a very good indicator of our spiritual life and where our heart truly lies. Jesus calls wealth “dishonest” but what does he mean?

          What we possess – whether it is our health, our money, or our time – gives the illusion that it is permanent or that it leads to lasting happiness when in fact everything on earth is a temporary condition. Jesus points out that what we have is now on loan to us, and that the object of life is to trade with our possessions so as to gain eternal possessions and win friends for ourselves and eternal life. Wealth on earth does not last.

          Jesus points out that “worldly people” – people who are shrewd and know how to make money--are often better at what they do than the children of God are at earning true wealth in heaven. What opportunities have I squandered that God has given me? This gospel advises us to think about this and use our opportunities to win friends in heaven and on earth.

          It is like a person taking a long ocean voyage in which he has many credits that are good for services and entertainment onboard the ship. Only a fool would amass more and more credits that are only valuable as long as one is on board! A wise person would want to take the excess credits and trade them for something valuable after disembarking from the ship. Many people accumulate pleasures and experiences and possessions as if this were the only world there is, without any reference to the world to come.

          When I do an act of kindness for someone else, when I pray for the dead, when I give to the poor or help the food bank, tithe to my church, do some works of mercy, or pray and make sacrifices for others – all of these things and many others win us friends on earth and intercessors in heaven. All of us are really stewards of someone else’s possessions. When you think about it, everything that we have will one day pass on to someone else or disappear; so a wise person will be using this brief period of time that we call life on earth to become more and more a friend of God. Every person that I have assisted in life one way or another will be a friend for all eternity, while every selfish act is sterile and, in fact, deprives us of eternal joy.

          Worldly people who do not listen to this gospel, or who think that this is the only life there is, will not be prepared when their money fails them because they don’t want to see it. Christ wants us to have true wealth and to use the time we have on earth to gain the value that really lasts.                  

                                                                                      Father Gary   

[Salvation]

St. Paul Center Blog

Prudent Stewards: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted by Dr. Scott Hahn on 09.20.13 |

 

Amos 8:4-7
Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 16:1-13

The steward in today’s Gospel confronts the reality that he can’t go on living the way he has been. He is under judgment, must give account for what he has done.

The exploiters of the poor in today’s First Reading are also about to be pulled down, thrust from their stations (see Isaiah 22:19). Servants of mammon or money, they’re so in love with wealth that they reduce the poor to objects, despise the new moons and sabbaths - the observances and holy days of God (see Leviticus 23:24; Exodus 20:8).

Their only hope is to follow the steward’s path. He is no model of repentance. But he makes a prudent calculation - to use his last hours in charge of his master’s property to show mercy to others, to relieve their debts.

He is a child of this world, driven by a purely selfish motive - to make friends and be welcomed into the homes of his master’s debtors. Yet his prudence is commended as an example to us, the children of light (see 1 Thessalonians 5:5; Ephesians 5:8). We too must realize, as the steward does, that what we have is not honestly ours, but what in truth belongs to another, our Master.

All the mammon in the world could not have paid the debt we owe our Master. So He paid it for us, gave His life as a ransom for all, as we hear in today’s Epistle.

God wants everyone to be saved, even kings and princes, even the lovers of money (see Luke 16:14). But we cannot serve two Masters. By his grace, we should choose to be, as we sing in today’s Psalm - “servants of the Lord.”

We serve Him by using what He has entrusted us with to give alms, to lift the lowly from the dust and dunghills of this world. By this we will gain what is ours, be welcomed into eternal dwellings, the many mansions of the Father’s house (see John 14:2).