Dear brothers and sisters,
“I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth,
so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”
(Luke 16:9).
As we have been remembering so far, every event, teaching, parable that we read about in this portion of Luke’s gospel is ultimately a commentary on what is going to take place on Good Friday and Good Friday is the ultimate interpretation and fulfillment of all of our Lord’s teachings and actions.
Indeed, all that the Bible holds is only fully revealed in the light of the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord. So let us then reflect on this parable of the prudent steward proclaimed in today’s gospel.
Our Lord teaches us today that we are called to be stewards of His. A steward does not own anything outright but manages and dispenses with the gifts and talents he has received from God for His Household.
God alone can rightly own anything for He is Creator of everything. All we have and possess we never created but have received or earned or stolen from Him through other stewards. The two sons of last Sunday’s parable are examples for us and of us.
Like them, we are reminded by our Lord today that we will all have to give an accounting of the ways in which we have managed and dispensed with the gifts for the sake of Him and His kingdom.
Material wealth is referred to as dishonest wealth because it has the very powerful tendency to lead our devotion away from God our Father to a devotion to material wealth in themselves. We have the prodigal son to remind us of this.
No one is free from the temptation to serve mammon. We daily are tempted and we daily fall and seek material wealth for earth bound purposes and not for eternal dwellings. We do this even with our loved ones. Our plans for each other often do not have eternal life with God as it’s ultimate goal.
Our stewardship of God’s many gifts will eventually lead us back to Him and it is to Him we will have to give an account. We acknowledge with great sorrow and repentance that we have failed miserably in being prudent stewards.
We know now to follow the Prudent Steward of God the Father: His Son. The Son will not only cancel a percentage of our debts but all of it. On the cross, He will embrace and absorb and consume us with all our debts and present us washed clean of every sin to the Father.
This He is already accomplishing for us and with us now through the sacraments, especially the Mass and through our works of charity beginning in the family and extending to the rest of God’s family. – Fr. Simi.