THE WORD
FIRST READING: Amos 8,4-7
Hear this, you who trample upon the needy
and destroy the poor of the land:
“When will the new moon be over,” you ask,
“that we may sell our grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the grain-bins?
We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel,
and fi x our scales for cheating!
We will buy the destitute for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals;
even the worthless grain we will sell!”
The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Never will I forget a thing they have done!
SECOND READING: 1 Tim 2,1-8
Beloved: First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God.
There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all. This was the testimony at the proper time. For this I was appointed preacher and apostle (I am speaking the truth, I am not lying), teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument.
GOSPEL: Lk 16,1-13
Then he also 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 he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred containers of wheat.’ He 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 God and mammon.
IN OTHER WORDS
The Church reminds us through God’s Word to attend to the essential reality of the Kingdom here and now in our discovery of wholeness. In today’s readings, Jesus asks us to be resourceful and sly like the dishonest steward-manager (without being dishonest) in ascertaining a good future.
Our future, purchased by the present, starts already now. The Prophet Amos protested against the greed and dishonesty of his own people: the rich exploited the poor and justice became a mockery.
Thus, he warned that unless something drastic was done they, as a nation, would be doomed to destruction. The only way we can predict/shape our future is to exercise our power in the present.
Jesus makes two clear statements regarding how we can shape our future. One is the use of money. In the parable of Dives and Lazarus, Jesus condemned the rich man to damnation not because he was rich but because he was only concerned with himself. He never noticed the poor and the needy in his doorstep. The parable of the rich landowner who had to tear down his barn and build a new one to accommodate an unusually good harvest shows the Lord’s reaction to his concern just to relax, rest and eat without regard for his tenants who had surely been part of his success:
“You fool. Tonight you die and a reckoning will be made of how you lived. And to whom will these riches belong after you shall have gone?” Growth of any capital investment involves many people.
Wealth is amassed with others’ help. Thus when a rich person shares his riches, it is not a matter of charity but of justice.
Jesus’ other statement on how we can shape our future is: the man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great things. There is a saying: a drop of water bores a hole unto a rock, not by force, but by constantly falling. Little drops of water make up the mighty ocean. Corruption starts insignificantly until it becomes a person’s way of life. In a seminar on corruption, a student shared: I just realized now that I was starting a life of corruption when I told my mother that I needed 500 pesos for my school project when in fact I needed only 200. I used the 300 to go malling.
The Kingdom of God is God’s dream of humanity, represented by everyone living as brothers and sisters under God as a common Father. It is a reality experienced by anyone who cares to put the gospel value into practice. It starts small like a mustard seed, like yeast put into a whole mass of dough – like sharing one’s time or a smile with others; being with somebody in grief for the death of a loved one. But insignificant acts like these break barriers, create lasting relationships– convincing us that God’s dream of humanity as one family is no dream at all but a possibility. All it takes is for us to be faithful and to live the gospel demands.We leave to God the miracle he wants to create through us, his little insignificant instruments.
- Fr. Magdaleno Fabiosa, SVD | USC, Talamban, Cebu 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.
