THE WORD
Rom 16: 3–9.16.22–27 / Lk 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.”
IN OTHER WORDS
Pope Francis is remarkably down to earth and a very humble man. He stays in some apartment instead of the high-end Villa for the Supreme Pontiff and he himself pays the rent for the apartment where he lives. Like Pope John XXIII, one of his very first acts as Pope was to visit a jail in Rome, celebrating the Holy Eucharist with the inmates and washing their feet as the liturgy prescribes. Francis is a simple man who loves the poor and the needy. He challenges us all when he writes, “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?” (TIME, December 22, 2013)
Pope Francis begins, ends and dots his day with prayer. Rising as early as 5 AM he usually has a full load in his hands. He admits he nods off now and then, but adds, “It is good to fall asleep in God’s presence.”
- Fred Mislang, SVD (Villa Cristo Rey, CKMS, QC)
The Word in other words 2015
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
