Lk 16: 1-13
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’
So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.
And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?
No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
What Are My Riches?
In the Spiritual Exercises, Ignatius proposes that some people are tempted to covet riches, so that they might more easily attain the empty honors of the world, and then develop overweening pride. “Riches” in this case refers to more than material wealth, it is also our talents, knowledge, emotions and intellect. These are all gifts which others have helped to nurture within us over the course of our lives. If we prove generous with these riches, then God rewards us with more and more of his love and grace. The exhortation in today’s reading is to be sensitive to how we use each of the gifts that we have received.
What are my spiritual, intellectual and emotional riches? Do I tend to store them up for myself, or do I give them away as freely as they have been given to me?
—Fr. Juan Ruiz, SJ, was ordained a priest this summer and is currently serving at Gesú Catholic Church in Miami. He is a member of the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province.
Prayer
All that I Have I Give
Lord, I’m not turning back.
All that I have I now give to you.
Ask me whatever; I never want to betray you.
—Carlo Maria Martini