Entrusted and Responsible
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time-C
Every day, before we begin the Holy Mass, we hear the intentions being read out. We hear prayers of thanksgiving being offered for the gift of life on the occasion of those celebrating their birthday. We also hear prayers of thanksgiving for answered prayers. There are those who also offer prayers for certain persons who are in need, especially for the healing of those who are sick. Lastly, we offer prayers for our brothers and sisters who have gone ahead of us, for their eternal repose. This is how we begin the Holy Mass and when we hear these intentions being read, we also include silently our own intentions and petitions either for ourselves and for others. We also include in silence our prayers of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord who continues to bless us abundantly in many different ways every day (life, good health, family and friends, work, studies, career, harmonious relationships, vocation). When we begin each celebration of the Holy Mass by recalling those that we are thankful for, the list can go on and on. Indeed, we can say, we are blessed, and we are gifted by God!
Today’s Gospel is taken from Luke chapter 16, verses 10 to 13. Our Lord Jesus is teaching us, through this Gospel, these two lessons He mentioned: (1) “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,” and (2) “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.” These teachings of our Lord are very practical ones that we can apply in our day-to-day living as Christians in a challenging world.
On the first lesson, when we say that we trust someone, there is a firm belief in the reliability, truth, and ability towards that person. Thus we give our confidence to that someone we trust for we know and believe that he/she is reliable even in small matters. Jesus is saying that people will act in major decisions of their lives just as they do in minor ones. Thus, a person who is honest and responsible in small matters will also be honest and responsible in larger matters. The opposite is also true: dishonest individual in small matters will also be dishonest in greater ones. It is like saying: if a person cannot be trusted with one’s lunch money, why should others trust that person with their financial investments? or if one is reckless in driving a broken-down jeep, one cannot be sure that that person will do better with someone else’s brand new car. As we have said earlier, each of us are gifted by the Lord, we are all blessed by Him, how are we using these gifts and graces in our every day life? This can lead us to reflect that despite our sinfulness and unworthiness, God trusts in us, He believes in our ability and capacity that is why He continues to bestow His graces upon us.
How trustworthy are we as well as we deal with our brothers and sisters? People give their trust because they believe in the reliability, truth, and ability of the person they trust. When we are trusted in small matters, then we can also be trusted in greater ones. Many of us are entrusted with duties and responsibilities. May we be able to do them well, to the best of our ability considering as well the assistance that other persons can give to us.
On the second lesson, The Lord is not making a clear distinction between God and money. It is because in practical life, money is important. We need money to live, to support ourselves and families, to help sustain our economy. But money can become bad when it replaces God as the center of our life or when our sole pre-occupation is making money without regard for God and the spiritual values. Jesus puts before His disciples the notion that one can only be completely faithful to one commitment – either to God or to worldly ways. One cannot be completely dedicated to God and Godly pursuits and also be totally invested in non-spiritual pursuits. One ultimately has to make a decision of where one is going to channel one’s energies. “You cannot serve both God and mammon.” Not that we cannot have both; simply we cannot make both our master. How will we know that one is our master and not the other? Look at where we devote and give most our time, our energy, and our efforts to, is it to God or money?
Brothers and sisters, every time we recall how blessed and gifted we are by the Lord, we are also invited to look at the responsibility being entrusted to us in using these gifts. May we be trustworthy even in little things. May we have God as our sole master so that everything in our lives will revolve around Him, even our work in order to gain money and profit. In so doing, we give praise and thanks to the God who continues to bless us, and we also become a blessing to our brothers and sisters through the good example we give and show to them.
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