Homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
Theme: You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.
By: Fr. Patrick
Homily for Sunday September 22 2019
Gospel: Lk 16:1-13
My dear friends, Jesus seems to be praising a dishonest steward in our Gospel. However if you look closely Jesus praises not the steward’s dishonesty but rather his astuteness. That is Jesus recognises the steward is in a difficult spot and uses his ingenuity to get himself out of a fix. This is a trait that Jesus himself has and communicates this story so that we his followers may likewise be astute – that is being shrewd, not being naïve and thinking outside the box. For example Jesus was asked whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar – yes or no?
My friends, Jesus then uses this story of the dishonest steward as a stepping stone to talk about the place of money in our lives. It is a means to an end and we are to use it to win friends not to gain it at all costs. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI speaking to young people in the UK encouraged them not to be concerned about riches, popularity or caught up in the celebrity culture for these things don’t bring us happiness or give us peace, but rather it is
communion with God and one another which does so. For Seneca, an ancient philosopher, ‘Life to no one is given in possession, but rather in administration.’ That is as administrators we don’t own our possessions or even our own lives. We are only passing through.
An extra not in the homily:
[A 19th Century Norwegian playwright and poet, Henrik Ibsen, once said ‘Money may buy…medicine but not health, acquaintances but not friends…days of pleasure but not peace and happiness.’]
Conclusion of Mass – the takeaway
For Jesus our happiness both in this world and in the hereafter is based upon our relationships with God and one another, not riches, popularity, fame, celebrities or anything else