Word to the Wise
Saturday, November 10, 2007 - St. Leo the Great - Pope and Doctor of the Church
[Romans 16:3-9, 16, 22-27 and Luke 16:9-15]I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
"Dishonest" wealth here means money, not necessarily money gained dishonestly, although this saying does follow on the coattails of the parable of the Unjust Steward. All earthly wealth is seen by Jesus as something given by God and not the possession of the one who has it. Therefore each person who has material wealth is really a steward of it and not an owner. Therefore it is their duty to give alms ("to make friends") which, in turn will mean that when they are held accountable for their stewardship, they will be welcome into "eternal dwellings." It might be a very instructive exercise to ask ourselves about what we apply the word, "mine," to. What do we truly possess and how do we use it? Do we see ourselves as stewards rather than owners? How do we "give alms" from the "wealth" that we have? Do we consider ourselves accountable for this? The responses we give to these questions will help us understand Jesus' statements in today's gospel. AMEN
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