Taking care of what really matters

Listening to the Spirit

(Saint Francis Prayer)

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Listening to the Word

Luke 16:1-13

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Reflection

This is a difficult parable to understand. While reading it, some questions arise spontaneously: is this gospel teaching us to act dishonestly, to fake documents, and to cheat people? How can Jesus say in this parable: “And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently,” when in fact this man behaved dishonestly. Definitely, we must be very careful in interpreting this parable literally. It cannot also become the justification of misconducts, which radically contradict with the main teaching of love for our neighbors.

So, let us try to find what Jesus wants to teach us through this parable. First of all, Jesus does not praise the administrator, who is called “dishonest,” but he lauds his skillfulness: he acted shrewdly, with intelligence. So, Jesus highlights the ability of this man in making use of his talents to solve a concrete problem, namely how to survive the loss of his work as his master’s administrator. He makes use of his power and skills, and by manipulating the promissory notes of the debtors he is able to gain their favor and support for difficult times to come. In short, Jesus praises the ability of this man to save himself while facing a concrete challenge.

By means of this parable Jesus is teaching us an important thing: as in the case of this administrator, we should be able to make use of all the gifts we possess (intelligence, skills, strength, talents, creativity…) for saving our lives, that means to live to the full, happily, and in a meaningful way, both here and, later, in heaven. This means to build up the most precious thing we have, that is our relationship with God. This is what really matters, and so it would be logic to put all our energies into getting it. Nevertheless, we should also honestly admit that we are not always aware of the value of our relationship with God, and so normally we put less effort for taking care of our souls. In our daily lives, other things look more important than that. Therefore, Jesus seems to wake us up by asking a simple question: “If you are so talented, strong, and intelligent to find way-outs to survive difficult situations and to find out solutions for your concrete problems, why don’t you make use of the same skills and energies for taking care of what is paramount in your lives, which is your relationship with Me?” Moreover, as the communion with God is strictly connected with the communion with our neighbors, Jesus is also asking us: “if you are so skillful, and you really are, why don’t try to lessen the poverty around you, to behave more honestly, to work for the good of others, to do whatever you can for building peace and preserve the gift of creation, and by doing so, to give your contribution for making the world a better place to live?” So, this gospel challenges us to be responsible of the talents we are granted, making use of them for building communion with Him, with our brothers and sisters, and with the creation which surrounds us.

Finally, the last part of the Gospel is telling us another important truth: “you cannot serve both God and mammon (wealth).” Money is not a negative thing and we need it for living. But wealth can easily become a hindrance in our spiritual growth if we entrust our lives to it and we look at money and richness as the sources of our happiness. Wealth promises the fullness of joy, but it is unable to fulfill what it promises. Our real happiness is a gift granted only by Our Heavenly Father.

(Source: a reflection on Lk 16:1-13 by Paolo Curtaz)