Luke 16: 9-15
Jesus said to his disciples: "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 God and
mammon." The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and
sneered at him. And he said to them, "You justify yourselves in the sight
of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an
abomination in the sight of God."
* * *
Introductory Prayer: Father in heaven, I come to you today to
praise and worship you. In my faith, I reach out to you, knowing that you love
me and are leading me to heaven. I trust in your mercy and boundless love.
Petition: Lord,
help me to break the disordered attachments in my life.
1. Earning
Trust: Parents know well what this means!
Discovering that your teenage child’s story about being at a friend’s house
studying was just that — a story — makes for a very unpleasant realization.
Trust has been broken. After the “grounding” takes effect, the speech is then
delivered: “Here’s what you do if you want to earn back our trust…” Certainly
the family car won’t be lent out again until progress in the small things has
been seen. That’s the message Jesus has for us today. Our sins are like the
trust-breakers of the teenage kid. They show we aren’t ready for God’s greatest
gifts, so we have to start with the small things. Each grace we respond to
opens the door to receiving another grace. If we are trustworthy in very small
matters, we can be trusted with the greater. Following through on the everyday
graces will someday lead to the grace of graces: the Beatific Vision.
2. God
and/or Mammon: Part of earning trust with God is getting
our priorities straight. Taking a God-AND-mammon approach to life is similar to
trying to say the rosary while watching television. The Hail Mary’s may come
out, but they do so with as much reflection as is put into breathing. We simply
can’t have our cake and eat it too. Foolishly entertaining any bad habits (our
personal version of mammon) that erode our commitment shows God that we are not
spiritually mature enough to be fully trusted. On the other hand, when we take
a determined step to break these attachments, we make a big step forward. God
must come first!
3. Human
Eyes See Only Part of the Story: Naturally, this effort to live a
God-centered life is going to generate mixed reactions. The Pharisees scorn
Jesus for this: To them, he seems totally naïve about money. Like them, if we
see things only from a merely human perspective, big chunks of reality elude
us. Jesus is the one who has the complete picture. We can trust him completely to
lead us in the right direction. We won’t need to hedge our bets with human
props for our sense of security.
Conversation
with Christ
Lord Jesus, thank you for helping me to realize that your grace is more
important than anything I could ever have in this world. Break the hold of
mammon in my life so that I might serve you with greater purity of intention.
Resolution: I will make that
sacrificial donation to charity that I have been putting off.