Commentary on the Gospel of
Leaders Who Care
Read:
Through Amos, Yahweh warns those who selfishly manipulate resources excluding the poor and the needy. Paul invites us to pray for those in authority so that they govern for the good of all. Jesus exhorts us to be trustworthy in the earthly affairs, with a heart focused on what is eternal.
Reflect:
Fr. Pedro Arrupe, 28th Superior General of the Jesuits, once remarked that any form of government could be good provided those in it had the best interests of the people in their hearts. The world has been currently witnessing a radicalization of national governance in many countries wherein hidden agendas have highjacked the leadership, leading to much victimization of people and collapse of democratic institutions. Fr. Mathew Vattamattam, 13th Superior General of Claretian Missionaries, was once asked by a fellow Claretian as to his greatest challenge as the superior general. “To protect the Congregation from myself,” he replied. If only every leader tried their best to protect their flocks from one’s own vested interests and focus on discerning, with the people and in the light of God’s will, what is genuinely good for the people!
Pray:
Pray for your religious and civil leaders.
Act:
Write a letter of appreciation to one of your leaders ensuring him/her of your prayers.
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"You cannot serve two masters"
There is a Christian cunning to do things with guile, but not in the spirit of the world: to do things honestly, and this is good, and this is what Jesus says when he invites us to be as shrewd as serpents and as simple as doves: to put these two dimensions together is a grace of the Holy Spirit, a grace that we must ask for. Even today there are many of these swindlers, and I am shocked to see how widespread corruption is everywhere.
Jesus, in this parable, presents us with the dilemma of the past and of the present. Today's biblical texts have their best summary and their clearest teaching in the last words proclaimed in the gospel. "You cannot serve God and money" (Lk.16,13). (Lk.16,13).The prophet Amos denounces the injustice of those who squeeze the poor and those who ruin the miserable .For" we are not owners, but God's stewards".
The evangelist Luke tells us that "the Pharisees mocked Jesus" as if he were a deluded man who does not tread the earth because of his utopian theories about wealth. Goods are to be shared with others because it is impossible to be faithful to God who is the Father of all and at the same time live as a slave to money and self-interest.
In the Eucharist, after the prayer of the faithful, during the offertory, we are invited to share with others something of what we have, a little or a lot, because true wealth is not what we possess, but what we give to our brothers in need (Acts 20,35) and in this way we experience the generosity of God (2 Chr. 9,10-11).
It is legitimate to have money, because we need it to sustain our life, our family... The master in the parable does not praise the injustice of the steward, and that is why he fires him, but he praises his cunning, his intelligence to know how to secure the future. The steward is unjust but clever, and Jesus wants "his followers to be as shrewd in doing good as the children of the world are in doing evil".
The great rival of God is money and of man, whose heart it steals and enslaves, which is why Christ was so clear in saying: "Either God or money". It is clear that money must be for us, not us for it. All of God's goods must be used for good, according to the will of the one who gave them, and money is the compendium of material goods.
"HAPPY SUNDAY TO ALL. "
