10th of November (English)

Gospel text

 (Lc 16,1-8): 

At another time Jesus told his disciples, «There was a rich man whose steward was reported to him for fraudulent service. He summoned the steward and asked him: ‘What is this I hear about you? I want you to render an account of your service for it is about to be terminated’. The steward thought to himself: ‘What am I to do now? My master will surely dismiss me. I am not strong enough to do hard work, and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I will do: I must make sure that when I am dismissed, there will be some people to welcome me into their house’.

»So he called his master's debtors one by one. He asked the first who came: ‘How much do you owe my master?’. The reply was: ‘A hundred jars of oil’. The steward said: ‘Here is your bill. Sit down quickly and write there fifty’. To the second he put the same question: ‘How much do you owe?’. The answer was: ‘A thousand measures of wheat’. Then he said: ‘Take your bill and write eight hundred’. 

»The master commended the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the people of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light».

The Application

Jesus is giving us an anti-model or anti-dote and asking to each and every one of us to act like the children of Light. The difference is very simple. In relationship the children of light act in the same way, independent of the outer world. They won’t allow themselves to be dominated or manipulated by the worldly values (I don’t mean that the worldly values are bad), rather follow strictly the evangelical values and will always faithful to their Christian vocation: ‘love one another, just I have loved you.’

In this world, many at times the acts and words are well calculated. If you do this, I will respond to you this way. Thus the act is a reaction to an act of others.  It is preciously because many of the sincere and good relationship breaks. Everything is conditioned. Sadly everyone suffer. If our words and acts are according to the divine will, we will be just and pure before God. Sadly, many of our needs are according to own personal interest and purely by our discernment of good and bad, right and wrong. Shall we be the children of the Light and be different from the children of this world?

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: 

Jesus recommends the foresight, prudence, and ingenuity of the steward, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"Why did the Lord Jesus Christ present this parable to us? He surely did not approve of that cheat of a servant who cheated his master, stole from him and did not make it up from his own pocket. On top of that, he also did some extra pilfering. He caused his master further loss, in order to prepare a little nest of quiet and security for himself after he lost his job. Why did the Lord set this before us? It is not because that servant cheated but because he exercised foresight for the future. When even a cheat is praised for his ingenuity, Christians who make no such provision blush. I mean, this is what he added, 'Behold, the children of this age are more prudent than the children of light.' They perpetrate frauds in order to secure their future. In what life, after all, did that steward insure himself like that? What one was he going to quit when he bowed to his master's decision? He was insuring himself for a life that was going to end. Would you not insure yourself for eternal life?" (excerpt from 359A.10.)

«The people of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light»

Mons. Salvador CRISTAU i Coll Auxiliar Bishop of Terrassa (Barcelona) 
(Barcelona, Spain)

Today, the Gospel proposes a question, which, at first sight, is rather extraordinary. St. Luke's text, indeed, says: «And the master commended the dishonest steward for his astuteness» (Lk 16:8).

It goes without saying we are not being told here to be deceitful in our relationship amongst ourselves, much less, with our Lord. It is not therefore a praise to which would simply be a dishonest steward. What Jesus actually manifests in this example is a grievance for the shrewdness in dealing with the matters of this world and the lack of true wit of the sons of light in building God's Kingdom: «The people of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light» (Lk 16:8).

All this, proves —once again!— that men's hearts still have the same limits and miseries they have ever had. We, now, may speak of traffic of influence, corruption, unjustified wealth, counterfeiting documents... More or less, just as in Jesus' days.

But this poses a double question: Do we actually believe we can deceive God with our appearance, while pretending to be good Christians? And, when speaking of shrewdness, we should also speak of personal interest. Are we really interested in God's Kingdom and in his justice? Is it the mediocrity of our response as sons of light so frequent? Jesus also said «For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be» (Mt 6:21).

Which is for us our life's treasure? We should rather examine our desires so that we may find out where do we keep our treasure... St. Augustine tells us: «Your continuous yearning is your continuous voice. If you stop loving, your yearning will be silent».

Maybe today, before our Lord, we have to ponder which our guile, as sons of light, should be, that is, the sincerity of our relationship with God and our brothers. «Life is truly always a choice: between honesty and dishonesty, between fidelity and infidelity, between good and evil (…). Ultimately, Jesus says, it is necessary to make a fundamental decision» (Benedict XVI).