23/09/2007 - 25th Sunday in O. T. - Year C
First Reading: Amos 8, 4-7 Psalm: 113
Second Reading: 1Timothy 2, 1-8 Gospel: Luke 16, 1-13
With his disciple Timothy, St. Paul insists on the necessity for Christians
to pray. They should pray in every place, offer any kind of prayers, petitions,
intercessions and thanksgivings. They should pray especially for kings and those
who are in authority because on them depend peace and tranquillity of the people
and also the possibility for the believers to have a peaceful life and to be
able to go on proclaiming the Gospel to the world. And this is the need of the
world, because when or where the Gospel arrives the people can begin a journey
to true peace, solidarity reciprocal attention, and thus also a true improvement
for all. Prayer is on the base of every beneficial activity, and it should be
the beginning of any enterprise: really it is the Lord who can give us the Spirit
of humility, lowliness and wisdom which gives fecundity to our presence and
activities. It is the Spirit of the Lord who gives us light and who makes us
able to renounce and disengage ourselves from this world or better to use the
goods of this world for the Reign of Heaven. It is to this fact that Christ
alludes with the parable of the clever and crafty manager. Jesus has spoken
several times with His disciples or with the crowds about the danger of wealth;
wealth may be a temptation or an obstacle for the faith and thus for the earnestness
of life and the gladness of man. This is a fact not easy to understand, especially
for the mentalities who think that accumulation of wealth and opulence is a
sign that God blesses this man. The mentality of the Hebrews of that time was
the same as the mentality of many contemporary people. Jesus knows it, and for
this reason He insists on this theme.
Some people may think that with this parable of the clever steward Jesus wants
to exalt and praise slyness and lack of righteousness. But if we pay attention
to the conclusion we will easily understand that Jesus wants His disciples to
use the wealth and goods of this world with 'holy slyness', i.e. in a manner
that may help them to attain the Kingdom of Heaven. The 'holy slyness' means
not accumulate wealth only in order to be happy and without cares in this world,
but use them in such a manner that they may be useful also after death. If with
our wealth we help poor people, this people will testify for us in front of
the Lord. The true wealth before God is not accumulation of material goods but
help and assistance; is not what we accumulated, but the poor people that we
helped! Thus we will make friends for ourselves. Our wealth should not become
a kind of idol.
If we use the wealth in according to the Word of the Lord, He will trust us
in greater things, in things important for the Kingdom of Heaven. In the Church
we appreciate usually the people who chose to leave everything, to live willingly
in real poverty; easily we take advices from them. The prophet Amos (1st reading)
teaches us the same lesson. When we think about the saints, very often are coming
to our mind those who gave away all their goods to the poor people in order
to believe in a concrete way to the Providence of Father. In this way they are
a testimony to the love of the Father, to the real presence among us of Jesus
Christ and to the wealth of the Holy Spirit.