Twenty-fifth Sunday Gospel C

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.’ 

· We need to reflect on our own stewardship in regards what God has entrusted to us. If we would face God at this moment, what account would we be  able to give him?

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 the steward said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ The steward said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.

· The extra in each instance is the additional fee he tack on for his own pockets. He was bilking his masters customers for his own gain.

· Are there any “dishonest” or questionable practices that we have been doing which in the eyes of God could be considered unjust and unfair?

 “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. 

· What does Jesus mean by this?

· Are we as concern with our eternal salvation as we are with our physical well-being? Do we spend more time to provide for our present life-style but not as much to provide for our eternal life time?

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 both God and mammon.”

· Are we in fact trying to serve two masters? The world and God? 

· What application do we make in our lives as a result of our reflections? Does anything need to change and will it?