20190922
RESPONSIBLE
STEWARDSHIP OF GOD’S GRACE
22 SEPTEMBER,
2019, Sunday, 25th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
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First reading
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Amos 8:4-7 ©
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Listen to this, you who trample on the
needy
and try to suppress the poor people of the
country,
you who say, ‘When will New Moon be over
so that we can sell our corn,
and sabbath, so that we can market our
wheat?
Then by lowering the bushel, raising the
shekel,
by swindling and tampering with the
scales,
we can buy up the poor for money,
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and get a price even for the sweepings of
the wheat.’
The Lord swears it by the pride of Jacob,
‘Never will I forget a single thing you
have done.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 112(113):1-2,4-8 ©
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Praise the Lord, who
raises the poor.
or
Alleluia!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
May the name of the Lord be blessed
both now and for evermore!
Praise the Lord, who
raises the poor.
or
Alleluia!
High above all nations is the Lord,
above the heavens his glory.
Who is like the Lord, our God,
who has risen on high to his
throne
yet stoops from the heights to look down,
to look down upon heaven and
earth?
Praise the Lord, who
raises the poor.
or
Alleluia!
From the dust he lifts up the lowly,
from the dungheap he raises
the poor
to set him in the company of princes,
yes, with the princes of his
people.
Praise the Lord, who
raises the poor.
or
Alleluia!
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Second reading
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1 Timothy 2:1-8 ©
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My advice is that, first of all, there
should be prayers offered for everyone – petitions, intercessions and
thanksgiving – and especially for kings and others in authority, so that
we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet. To do
this is right, and will please God our saviour: he wants everyone to be saved
and reach full knowledge of the truth. For there is only one God, and there is
only one mediator between God and mankind, himself a man, Christ Jesus, who
sacrificed himself as a ransom for them all. He is the evidence of this, sent
at the appointed time, and I have been named a herald and apostle of it
and – I am telling the truth and no lie – a teacher of the faith and
the truth to the pagans.
In
every place, then, I want the men to lift their hands up reverently in prayer,
with no anger or argument.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Ac16:14
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord,
to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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2Co8:9
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus Christ was rich,
but he became poor for your sake,
to make you rich out of his poverty.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 16:1-13 ©
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Jesus said to his disciples:
‘There
was a rich man and he had a steward denounced to him for being wasteful with
his property. He called for the man and said, “What is this I hear about you?
Draw me up an account of your stewardship because you are not to be my steward
any longer.” Then the steward said to himself, “Now that my master is taking
the stewardship from me, what am I to do? Dig? I am not strong enough. Go
begging? I should be too ashamed. Ah, I know what I will do to make sure that
when I am dismissed from office there will be some to welcome me into their
homes.”
Then
he called his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, “How much do
you owe my master?” “One hundred measures of oil” was the reply. The steward
said, “Here, take your bond; sit down straight away and write fifty.” To
another he said, “And you, sir, how much do you owe?” “One hundred measures of
wheat” was the reply. The steward said, “Here, take your bond and write
eighty.”
‘The
master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of
this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children
of light.
‘And
so I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus
make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of
eternity. The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great;
the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then
you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with
genuine riches? And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will
give you what is your very own?
‘No
servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love
the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot
be the slave both of God and of money.’
RESPONSIBLE
STEWARDSHIP OF GOD’S GRACE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Amos 8:4-7; Ps 113; 1 Tim 2:1-8; Lk 16:1-13 (or >< 16:10-13)]
In the gospel, Jesus
told us the story of the dishonest Steward. He was given responsibility to look after
the property of the rich man. Instead of being grateful for so great a
trust given to him, he was irresponsible and wasteful with the property
entrusted to him. We, too, must also ask ourselves, whether we have been
responsible with the gifts the Lord has given to us. All of us are
blessed with gifts, talents and resources. Some are blessed with riches,
some with good health, some with influential positions, some with skills, some
with knowledge, some with the gifts of singing, playing music, some with
artistic skills. Some of us are blessed with leadership in government and
organizations.
But we are not just
given resources; there is also the question of accountability. Like the dishonest steward, we will
be called to accountability at the end of the day. This is what St Paul
said to the Christians in Rome. “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if
we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the
Lord. So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.”
(Rom 14:8, 12) It does not matter how others judge
us but how God judges us. St Paul made it clear, “I care very little if I
am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge
myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent.
It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge
nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will
bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of
the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” (1 Cor 4:3-5)
Indeed, the first
reading indicts the rich and powerful. Instead of using their privileges to help
build the community and serve the poor, they used them to enrich themselves
further and even to cheat the poor because of their ignorance and their
vulnerability. This was what the prophet Amos was condemning. They
lacked integrity and committed sins against justice by trampling on the needy
and suppressing the poor people by swindling them. They tampered with the
scales to make more profits. They swallowed up their property and made
the poor dependent on them. Greed had overtaken them. On the other
hand, they pretended to be good Israelites, observing the Sabbath. “When
will New Moon be over so that we can sell our corn, and Sabbath, so that we can
market our wheat?” This is true for us as well. We come to Church
every Sunday and even receive communion, but we do not treat our workers fairly
or our colleagues justly. We cheat in business on one hand, and give
money to the Sunday collections. Such inconsistency is an abuse of
stewardship.
How, then, can we be
worthy stewards of our Lord? Firstly, regardless of what the Lord has
blessed us with, we must never forget that these are given to us in
trust. They are not our own.
They are given to us so that we can use them well for the service of God and
humanity. We are God’s stewards and His servants. All
of us must never forget that we are not working for an earthly master but for
God. St Paul wrote, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in
everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but
wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. Whatever your task,
put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since
you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward;
you serve the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will
be paid back for whatever wrong has been done, and there is no
partiality.” (Col 3:22-25)
Indeed, it is God whom we are serving. That is why, the Lord warns us,
“‘No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and
love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You
cannot be the slave both of God and of money.” Once we love God and
put Him first, we will know how our resources should be used.
Secondly, because they
are given to us in trust and do not belong to us, we must use them wisely,
always for the glory of God. In
the gospel, the dishonest servant was praised not for his dishonest action in
protecting his interests but at his creativity in doing so. “The master
praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this
world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of
light.” It is important, therefore, that whatever resources we have must
be used creatively either to help people or build the community. Money
and resources are to be used for the service of love, strengthening of our
bonds with our fellowmen.
The irony is that many
of us are so well educated and accomplished in life, in our career and in the
corporate world.
We have many good Catholic professionals, but sad to say, we do not have many
helping out or contributing their expertise to help in the building of the
Church and the community. The Church is also slow to recruit such
professionals to assist when the Church is not short of such resources.
Unfortunately, many of them either do not know what help the Church needs, or
in some instances, their services have not been appreciated, or they are not
taken seriously by Church authorities, and so they prefer to help in NGOs where
their services are accepted and where they are trusted to do their work well.
Thirdly, what is given
is held in trust for the larger community. Indeed, we must remember that
we are all children of God.
Our heavenly Father has special preference for those who are weak, poor, sickly
and vulnerable. For this reason, those who are rich must help those who
are poor. Those who are more talented are called to serve more than
others. The more one is given, the more one is called to give. In
this way, the rich will never be too rich, and the poor never too poor. St Paul
writing to the Corinthians to help the Church in Jerusalem said, “The goal is
equality, as it is written: ‘The one who gathered much did not have too
much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.'” (2 Cor 8:15)
This is particularly
true in a Christian community where members must support first the local parish
then the archdiocese and the Universal Church. As Christians, we are all one body of Christ
and therefore brothers and sisters in the Lord. We should not be paying
lip service that we are all children of God but do not care for each
other. It is therefore vital that Catholics must somehow contribute to
the needs of the community they belong to. The trouble is that Catholics
only know how to demand this and that from the Church, but they are not always
generous in giving their time, resources, talents or money to the Church.
How can we be only taking care of ourselves and our interests when the parish
community is lacking resources and manpower for the different ministries?
If God has given us talents, then we should not only be using them to enrich
ourselves but to make them available for the use of the spread of the gospel and
the building of the community.
Fourthly, trust begets
trust. The Lord said,
“The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man
who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you
cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with
genuine riches?” If we want to be trusted with responsibilities, we must first
show ourselves to be reliable with small things. This is how people get
promoted. All they need to do is to show that they are responsible with
what is entrusted to them, and when the opportune time comes, those in position
will know who to promote and entrust with greater responsibilities.
For those who are not promoted or given the salary increments that they expect,
perhaps, they should ask themselves whether they have truly given their best to
the organization, or whether they have they been making use of the organization
for their convenience.
Most of all, the Lord is
asking us whether we are taking our spiritual growth seriously. Some of us are very responsible
with regards to the things of this world. We are careful with money,
thrifty with resources, using them wisely for the good of all. But what
about spiritual things? The genuine riches that Jesus spoke about have to
do with our spiritual life and growth in virtues. Do we make the best of
the time and resources that the Church provides so that we can grow in our
faith? If we take our faith for granted, then we will eventually become
lax in our relationship with God, leading to indifference. In the final
analysis, we should not just be working for the things of this earth but for
our salvation.
Today, let us follow the
example of St Paul who showed us what responsible stewardship is all
about. Paul
“is the evidence of this, sent at the appointed time, and I have been named a
herald and apostle of it and – I am telling the truth and no lie – a teacher of
the faith and the truth to the pagans.” St Paul who received the great
privilege of the revelation of the mystery of Christ felt obliged to give His
entire life for this work of proclaiming the gospel to all of humanity.
“For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to
preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach
voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging
the trust committed to me. What then is my reward? Just this: that in
preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full
use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.” (1 Cor 9:16-18)
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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