Ordinary Time, 25th Sunday (C) People sometimes think that Jesus is a rather straightforward teacher and the church has made everything complicated. In many cases, though, Jesus is rather confusing and the Church has tried to make things clearer. Take today's parable of the Dishonest Steward. A rich man learns that his administrator is misusing his money, so he plans to fire him. Meanwhile, the administrator takes advantage of his position to further cheat his master by reducing debts.

Is Jesus recommending dishonesty? Of course not. We must look at the change of attitude that happened. Before, the steward was only taking care of himself; now he is taking care of others in hopes that they, in turn, will take care of him.

So how does this apply to us? The rich man is God and each of us is a steward. The Master will be taking the stewardship away from you because you are going to die. When you prepare an accounting of your stewardship, you realize all the money you spent on yourself was basically wasted. "The only thing we take with us when we die is what we have given away." (Francis Cardinal George).

The biggest danger that we stewards have is that we would value money and things more than people. God wants his stewards to value his children as he does. We often see the poor and needy as a problem to be solved. We should instead recognize that the Master is sending us opportunities to be generous.

(18 Sep 2022)

Going Deeper: Meditate on these words from the final blessing from the Rite of Marriage: "May you be witnesses in the world to God's charity, so that the afflicted and needy who have known your kindness may one day receive you thankfully into the eternal dwelling of God."

Ask yourself how many afflicted and needy will be waiting to welcome me when I get to the doors of heaven?

Look for one opportunity to be generous this week. And by that I mean, see one needy person in a new light and act accordingly.

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