GOSPEL: LK 16:1-8
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JESUS 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 kors 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.”
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Pope Francis (Nov. 8, 2013) offers many insights on the figure of the dishonest steward. He notes that corrupt managers are “worshippers of the goddess of bribery,” and they commit “a grave sin against dignity” and even give “tainted bread” to their own children. This “worldly cunning” should be countered with “Christian cunning,” which is “a gift of the Holy Spirit.”
“The Lord speaks to us about the spirit of the world, of worldliness, and how this worldliness operates and how dangerous it is.” For Francis, worldliness “is the enemy.” It means “living according to the world’s values” and this lifestyle “so delights the devil…The bribery mentality is a worldly habit that’s very wrong.”
Francis notes that “it begins with a small kickback, but it’s like a drug.” Even if the first kickback “is small, then comes another and another: and it ends in the illness of being addicted to bribery.”
With Pope Francis, we pray that “the Lord will change the hearts of those who worship the goddess of bribery.” We also pray that we ourselves may live with clean hands and hearts.
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2020,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
