Friday, November 08, 2013 31st Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Rom 15: 14-21 Gospel: Lk 16:1-8 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. He called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his masters debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 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.’ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience) It appears as though verse 8 of today’s Gospel reading promotes shrewdness. Yet we know that honesty is still the best policy. We have a similar problem with other Gospel passages like the story of the corrupt judge who gave in to the persistence of a widow and decided the case in her favor. Yet we know that justice is still the best practice. Justice demands that cases should be decided on their merits and that judges should not be swayed in any way from their sworn duty to uphold the truth. The key to proper construction of Gospel parables is focus on the core message. Parables are stories that, taken as a whole and not part by part, convey a message, usually one that is moral and spiritual in nature. To focus on the judge’s submission to the persistence of the widow is missing the core message of the parable which is persistence in prayer. The eventual submission of the judge who respected no one in his community serves to underline the “coercive” power of persistent prayer. If a judge who fears no one can soften in the end and give in to the request of a helpless widow simply because of that widow’s persistence, will the Lord remain adamant to our persistent prayers? Similarly, the message of today’s Gospel parable is not dishonesty but the maximization of the use of material wealth for one’s spiritual growth. Honest people should not be outdone in the maximization of material resources. If corrupt people are able to turn their fate around by manipulating material resources, what stops honest people from maximizing the use of material resources to benefit their souls? - Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail. Website: frdan.org. Prayer for the day: God our Father, make us wise in the use of material wealth so that we may amass spiritual treasures by our wise use of our material blessings. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Title: Parable of the shrewd manager CHURCH BULLETIN: SAINT OF THE DAY: St. Godfrey, Bishop. He was born in France in 1065 and entered a monastery to become a monk. Eventually he was appointed Abbot of Nogent in Champagne. This was a rundown religious house whose membership had greatly decreased. The building was in decay and religious life of its members was in disarray. Under his guidance the Abbey soon flourished. In 1104 he was forced to accept the episcopacy in Amiens. His strict and intolerant attitude bred ill-feelings in some. To prevent discord he withdrew from the Cistercian monastery but was later asked by a council to return. He died in 1115.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 20:59:42 +0000
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