THE WORD
FIRST READING: Wis 18,6-9
That night was known beforehand to our ancestors, so that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage.
The expectation of your people
was the salvation of the righteous and the destruction of their foes.
For by the same means with which you punished our adversaries,
you glorified us whom you had summoned.
For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice
and carried out with one mind the divine institution,
So that your holy ones should share alike the same blessings and dangers,
once they had sung the ancestral hymns of praise.
SECOND READING: Heb 11,1-2.8-19
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God. By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age—and Sarah herself was sterile—for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy. So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore.
All these died in faith. They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be calledtheir God, for he has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.” He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and hereceived Isaac back as a symbol.
GOSPEL: Lk 12,32-48
Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms.
Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.”
“Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.
IN OTHER WORDS
Jose “Pepe” Mujica, the president of Uruguay who finished his 5-year term in March 2015, spoke on CNN Espanol of the incompatibility of politics and financial affluence: “People who love money should dedicate themselves to industry, to commerce, to multiply wealth. But politics is the struggle for the happiness of all.” At the UN General Assembly on September 24, 2013, he blasted consumerism, excess and frivolity: “We have sacrificed the old immaterial gods, and now we are occupying the temple of the Market-God. He organizes our economy, our politics, our habits, our lives and even provides us with rates and credit cards and gives us the appearance of happiness.”
In his encounter with Pope Francis, Mujica said: “The State can send people to help but can’t ensure love and care, so this requires the commitment of many groups, [the Church’s] militant presence,” emphasizing the non-material aspect of poverty and the role of the Church and human community in the fight against poverty in all its dimensions.
In his speech to his people before leaving his office, he thanked them for their affection, constructive criticisms and fellowship and assured them: “If I had two lives, I would spend them entirely to help in your struggles because it is the greatest form of loving life that I could nd in my nearly 80 years of life.”
Mujica’s speeches and declarations reveal what his heart treasures: the common good or happiness of all, simplicity of lifestyle, service to others especially the poor – congruent with gospel values, even though Mujica himself claims to be an atheist. Dubbed as the “poorest president of the world,” he donated 90% of his salary to charity; he shunned the presidential palace and chose to live with his wife in a tiny, one-storey home at the outskirts of Montevideo; he drove a beat-up old VW Beetle instead of a presidential limousine; he wore casual clothes even in formal functions.
In response to questions about his lifestyle he said: “This world is crazy, crazy! People are amazed by normal things and that obsession worries me! All I do is live like the majority of my people, not the minority. I’m living a normal life and Italian, Spanish leaders should also live as their people do.
They shouldn’t be aspiring to or copying a rich minority.” With such vision of life and that kind of lifestyle, “this enigmatic leader remains an inspiration to many and is a reminder that politics is meant to be a humble and honourable profession” wrote Wyre Davies, BBC Latin America and Caribbean correspondent. Indeed, he is a concrete example of a faithful steward spoken about in today’s gospel: someone who used his position of power for the service of the majority and not for his personal bene ts and interests.
- Fr. Ronnie R. Crisóstomo, SVD | DWS Tagytay City
The Word in other words 2016
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.
