Luke 16:9-15

Lectio (Reading)

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth,
so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
The person who is trustworthy in very small matters
is also trustworthy in great ones;
and the person who is dishonest in very small matters
is also dishonest in great ones.
If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth,
who will trust you with true wealth?
If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another,
who will give you what is yours?
No servant can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.” The Pharisees, who loved money,
heard all these things and sneered at him.
And he said to them,
“You justify yourselves in the sight of others,
but God knows your hearts;
for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.”

Meditatio (Reflecting)

If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Oratio (Responding)

This passage is both humbling and obvious. You cannot serve the Lord, if you spend all of your time serving the people and things of this world. Peter Kreeft wrote “We must worship God, love people, and use things. In that order.” But how often do we get stuck in thinking of the things of this world, at the precise moment that we should look to God and trust in his loving protection. We worry about our jobs, and we worry about our mortgages, and we worry about being able to provide for our families. We worry…, because we tell ourselves, “if I don’t do it who will…” and we forget about God.

That is precisely where the error is, when we think like this, we buy into the ways of this world, and the lies of the devil, and we think that everything is on our shoulders, and that nothing we do will make any difference. But the truth is exactly the opposite. Everything is in Gods hands, and is proceeding according to His divine will, and the efforts that we make in this world, either to support and build up His divine will, or to detract and work against it. Augustine said it best when he wrote: “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”

That is the point of our labor and toil…, to build up God’s kingdom on earth, in whatever way we can, and to whatever extent that our talents allow us. Like a violinist in an orchestra. When present, and played well, the violin adds a necessary and intrinsically beautiful element to the overall music that is being played. If the violin is not there, or is played badly, the music will still be beautiful, but not as beautiful as it would have been otherwise. It is like when the whole congregation sings at mass. I know that I am not a beautiful singer, but when we all sing together, it is truly transcendent. My bad voice when combined with everyone else’s makes a beautiful harmony.

When God created you, He created you for a purpose, and that purpose was to help build up His kingdom on earth. Do you know what that purpose is? If so are you living out that purpose? If not why not? If you don’t know your purpose, Pray to the Lord, and ask Him to reveal it to you. And then embrace it, and work for it, like Augustine said, as if it all depends on you. Play that violin and sing your heart out, and make beautiful music with us all, and we will see the divine will lived out among us, in our daily lives.

Contemplatio (Contemplating)

Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.

Resolutio (Resolving)