Friday 31st in Ordinary Time Reflection to Gospel text Luke 16:1-8 The people of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light Today, the Gospel proposes a question, which, at first sight, is rather extraordinary. St. Lukes text, indeed, says: «And the master commended the dishonest steward for his astuteness» (Lk 16:8). It goes without saying we are not being told here to be deceitful in our relationship amongst ourselves, much less, with our Lord. It is not therefore a praise to which would simply be a dishonest steward. What Jesus actually manifests in this example is a grievance for the shrewdness in dealing with the matters of this world and the lack of true wit of the sons of light in building Gods Kingdom: «The people of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light» (Lk 16:8). All this, proves —once again!— that mens hearts still have the same limits and miseries they have ever had. We, now, may speak of traffic of influence, corruption, unjustified wealth, counterfeiting documents... More or less, just as in Jesus days. But this poses a double question: Do we actually believe we can deceive God with our appearance, while pretending to be good Christians? And, when speaking of shrewdness, we should also speak of personal interest. Are we really interested in Gods Kingdom and in his justice? Is it the mediocrity of our response as sons of light so frequent? Jesus also said «For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be» (Mt 6:21). Which is for us our lifes treasure? We should rather examine our desires so that we may find out where do we keep our treasure... St. Augustine tells us: «Your continuous yearning is your continuous voice. If you stop loving, your yearning will be silent». Maybe today, before our Lord, we have to ponder which our guile, as sons of light, should be, that is, the sincerity of our relationship with God and our brothers. «Life is truly always a choice: between honesty and dishonesty, between fidelity and infidelity, between good and evil (…). Ultimately, Jesus says, it is necessary to make a fundamental decision» (Benedict XVI). Comment: Mons. Salvador CRISTAU i Coll Auxiliar Bishop of Terrassa (Barcelona) (Barcelona, Spain).
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 04:54:30 +0000