11/11/2023 (Saturday) Today’s gospel reading: Luke 16:9-15

Jesus said to his disciples:
9 “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
10 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.
11 If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth?
12 If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours?
13 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 God and mammon.”
14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at him.
15 And he said to them, “You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.”

11/11/2023 (Saturday) Today’s gospel reflection / homily / sermon: Luke 16:9-15

The gospel reading above is part of the teachings about how to handle money and the importance of meaningful and lasting relationships. It encourages us to see the real value of money or any material treasure for that matter, not as our “master” but as a means to help others. In other words, money should not a cause for us to commit sin but rather it should be taken as a gift to make us live a fruitful life. For in our modern life, it is a fact that money is useful. Yet too often, a lot of people look at wealth as their ultimate goal and obsession.

If we consider our wealth as a gift from God, then we must become the worthy steward of it. The wealth is entrusted to us so we are obliged to take care of it. We shall be called untrustworthy is we squander it. That is why we must be careful in spending it. We must see to it that they are used for our spiritual growth instead of our damnation.

The last verse speaks volume about our motivations in life. We always want to impress, don’t we? We know how much people equate success with wealth accumulation. More often than not we try to “keep up with the Joneses”. Yet if we always seek the admiration of others, if our behavior depends on how others look at us, if we are too concerned with our public image, then we are lost indeed just like the Pharisees. The verse reminds us that God looks beyond the exterior and search for the interior. Jesus is telling us once again to focus on our relationship with Him. If our motivation in life is to give glory to God, it will show in our outward behavior. Then we realize that there is absolutely no need to “justify ourselves in the sight of others”.

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