Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- Prudent Priority

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 16:1–13

Friends, today’s Gospel focuses on prudence.
Luke gives us the parable of the dishonest steward,
who seeks the favor of his master’s debtors by reducing what they owed him.
And the master even “commended that dishonest
steward for acting prudently.”

In the Middle Ages, prudence was called “the queen of the virtues”
because it was the virtue that enabled one to do the right thing in a particular situation.
Prudence is a feel for the moral situation,
something like the feel a quarterback has for the playing field,
or a politician for the voters in his district.

Courage, justice, and temperance are wonderful virtues,
but without prudence, they are blind and finally useless.
For a person can be as courageous as possible,
but if he doesn’t know when, where, and how to play out his courage,
that virtue is useless.

[MurphsLaw]

+++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."+++

[fidelis]

It was a great Gospel reading today. It is definitely one of the most difficult to interpret, and it takes a lot of background info and careful reading to parse it out. I think my Bible study group did a good job yesterday of drawing out a good understanding of it.

[MurphsLaw]

Definitely difficult to be sure...
The Gospel reading on its own definitely puzzling.
As Dr. Bergsma points out as a "white collar" crime,
this servants deeds are condoned by Jesus.
Make friends for yourself with dishonest wealth?

Hitchens always tried to pin that on Mother Teresa...
attempting to take a higher "moral" road than her- of all things...
But Mother T did not care if the money she was given was honest or dishonest-
but only if it could help the suffering of others. Period.
I feel Professor Bergsma does the best job of parsing it out-

"The world encourages an attitude in which we use people to gain things.
Jesus reverses this: use things to gain people.
If spending money and giving goods can open others to friendship with the Church
and ultimately Christ Himself,
then spend the money, give the goods."

That's gold.