Impenetrability

I had a hard time thinking what to write about this Sunday’s readings. I consulted previous missals so I could grasp a thought or two about the real contexts that jives the three readings in exact harmony but they are all too obvious and non-effective to date. Then I did what most of the recollection speakers do when lacking in ideas—I prayed. Holding my Christian Prayer tightly, I reflected on the Antiphon which says that you cannot serve both God and money. A direct statement which was different from the Gospel Book translation; both God and mammon. I think the entire liturgy dwells on this thought. It is for me the central theme of today’s readings. How about rereading it once more?

First Reading Amos 8: 4 – 7

4 Hear this, you who trample upon the needy, and bring the poor of the land to an end,
5 saying, "When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great, and deal deceitfully with false balances,
6 that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the refuse of the wheat?"
7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: "Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.



Second Reading 1 Timothy 2: 1 – 8

1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men,
2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way.
3 This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the proper time.
7 For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;



Gospel Reading Luke 16: 1 – 13

1 He also said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.
2 And he called him and said to him, `What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.'
3 And the steward said to himself, `What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.
4 I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.'
5 So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, `How much do you owe my master?'
6 He said, `A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, `Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'
7 Then he said to another, `And how much do you owe?' He said, `A hundred measures of wheat.' He said to him, `Take your bill, and write eighty.'
8 The master commended the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.
9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations.
10 "He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.
11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches?
12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?
13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

Commentary

Everyone of us are thorned with choices. There is always options which are perplexing because they are both benefiting. Both options appear to be good and pleasurable. For example, you are to choose between a chocolate flavored ice cream or a French viand. These are example where you have to choose between the good and the better. That is why the readings presents today a case when a believer has to choose God rather than money.

In the first reading, the prophet Amos is telling those persons who pretend to be godly and yet are serving other gods. They are externally remembering the sabbath but the Lord of Sabbath is not their god. Their god is money. Inside their hearts, they can’t wait for the sabbath to be over. They want to earn money the next day and they are already planning how they can worship money. They external involvement to the sabbath is not counted. Why? Because there cannot be two gods. Only the god inside your heart can occupy the void. One god can only occupy a heart. That is why the Lord will never forget what these people are doing. They will pay for that and no amount of sabbath exposure can undo their idolatry.

In the second reading, the point of Saint Paul is still on the oneness of a god. Saint Paul is telling Timothy that there is only ONE GOD.

1 Tim. 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

This is crystal clear in the scripture, that there is only one God and one mediator between God and men. Money cannot outplace God in anything. But in the instance of Paul, he talking about the godlike treatment of people to the government officials. He is telling them that the authority of these leaders and kings are not from themselves but from heaven, from God.

In the Gospel, Jesus is teaching us about trustworthiness. What is it to do with the conflict of God per se and pseudo-deity a la idol? Very thematic is the topic of trustworthiness because it can only happen when we are sure who our god is. Your identification of your god defines the measure of your trustworthiness. Sometimes you may wonder why you are always entrusted by others to keep their moneys or keep their secrets while there are people they don’t want to tell it. Jesus is teaching us very practical lessons—that everything starts with little. If you can keep the smallest of secrets then it is tantamount to saying that you can keep huge secrets too. If do not steal shampoos and toothpaste in hotel rooms then we can be certain that you can keep large amount of money and never steal, at least 97% certainty.

Building reputations. That is what Jesus wants a believer to apply in his life. In the workplace, you can only be trusted to hold a position if employers are confident of your skills and of your character. Everything in life is a test. Once I heard of a story of a man who wants to marry the girl who use to be his pen pal. The girl never sent him a photo so he doesn’t know how she looks like. He asked how can he identify her by the time they are to meet in the train station. The replied “I will wear a rose on my blouse’s collar.” And so the man waited at the train station wearing his army uniform as he promised. A train stop and a beautiful lady went out the train. She is wearing a green blouse and she is very beautiful and elegant. The man asked himself, “Could this be my pen pal?” The lady doesn’t have a rose on the blouse collar. She asked the soldier, “Are you waiting for me here?” Then he said NO in reply. Suddenly, a jumbo woman at her forties, wearing red blouse with a rose went out the train, she is ugly. The man has a choice, to follow the lady in green dress or meet the lady. He told himself, this is the woman I fell in love with. I promised her I will meet with her today and I will. So he greeted the lady and said “Hi, I am John, would like to have dinner with me?” but the lady, confused, asked him, “Sir I don’t know what is it all about, but that lady there she told me to wear this rose. And if in case you asked me for a dinner, she said she will be waiting in that restaurant.” “Why did she do that?” he asked the lady in red. As a reply, the lady answered, “She said, it is a test.”

Dear folks, life here on earth is a series of tests. If we fail to pass the tests in simple terms then we cannot gain our own rewards. Jesus said, “If you cannot be trusted with another s wealth, who will give you what is yours?” and that is absolutely true. You cannot gain the merits in heaven if we fail to keep the treasures given to us by friends and employers here below. Our God is trusting us. We are given enough time. What are we doing with the time God is giving us? Are we using it only to earn money or to serve God?

Application

Now let us reflect what the lesson of the parable is. Let us situate ourselves to the steward's. We are also trusted and graced with so many gifts and at the end we will make an accounting to the absentee employer which represents the Father. To identify which god are we serving is a must.

It is very saddening that in the newspaper yesterday {Phil. Daily Inquirer} there is an article about how people nowadays are trusting almost nobody.

Most Americans, according to the Associated Press-National Constitution Center poll, do not trust media and social networking sites, military armed men, financial firms, government agencies, and of course the celebrities. While most of the Europeans trust the Catholic Church no longer due to the scandals of the priests. The pope, who is in London for papal visit, will talk to some victims.

If we will just open our eyes, there is less and less of trust today. It is high time to spread the culture of trust. This world is in need of trustworthy individuals who will encourage more people to trust again. Chaos begin when parties do not trust each other anymore.

The less we crave for money, the more we become trustworthy not only in the sight of the people around us but more and more to the sight of God. What are we waiting for? Start to be trustworthy!