Liturgy of the Sunday

Twenty-fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

First Reading

Amos 8,4-7

Listen to this, you who crush the needy and reduce the oppressed to nothing, you who say, 'When will New Moon be over so that we can sell our corn, and Sabbath, so that we can market our wheat? Then, we can make the bushel-measure smaller and the shekel-weight bigger, by fraudulently tampering with the scales. We can buy up the weak for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals, and even get a price for the sweepings of the wheat.' Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, 'Never will I forget anything they have done.'

Psalmody

Psalm 112

Antiphon

Praise the name of the Lord.

Praise, O servants of the Lord
praise the name of the Lord!

May the name of the Lord be blessed
both now and for evermore!

From the rising of the sun to its setting
praised be the name of the Lord!

High above all nations is the Lord,
above the heavens his glory.

Who is like the Lord, our God,
who has risen on high to his throne

yet stoops from the heights to look down,
to look down upon heaven and earth?

From the dust he lifts up the lowly,
from the dungheap he raises the poor

to set him in the company of princes,
yes, with princes of his people.

To the childless wife he gives a home
and gladdens her heart with children.

Second Reading

1 Timothy 2,1-8

I urge then, first of all that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving should be offered for everyone, for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live peaceful and quiet lives with all devotion and propriety. To do this is right, and acceptable to God our Saviour: he wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth. For there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and humanity, himself a human being, Christ Jesus, who offered himself as a ransom for all. This was the witness given at the appointed time, of which I was appointed herald and apostle and -- I am telling the truth and no lie -- a teacher of the gentiles in faith and truth. In every place, then, I want the men to lift their hands up reverently in prayer, with no anger or argument.

Reading of the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Luke 16,1-13

He also said to his disciples, 'There was a rich man and he had a steward who was denounced to him for being wasteful with his property. He called for the man and said, "What is this I hear about you? Draw me up an account of your stewardship because you are not to be my steward any longer." Then the steward said to himself, "Now that my master is taking the stewardship from me, what am I to do? Dig? I am not strong enough. Go begging? I should be too ashamed. Ah, I know what I will do to make sure that when I am dismissed from office there will be some to welcome me into their homes." 'Then he called his master's debtors one by one. To the first he said, "How much do you owe my master?" "One hundred measures of oil," he said. The steward said, "Here, take your bond; sit down and quickly write fifty." To another he said, "And you, sir, how much do you owe?" "One hundred measures of wheat," he said. The steward said, "Here, take your bond and write eighty." 'The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.' 'And so I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings. Anyone who is trustworthy in little things is trustworthy in great; anyone who is dishonest in little things is dishonest in great. If then you are not trustworthy with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you are not trustworthy with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own? 'No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Homily

The Gospel tells us of a manager and his more or less legitimate dealings. In this context, Jesus is speaking of the manager of large estate. He is accused before his master of having squandered his property. The charges must have been so irrefutable that the master decided to dismiss him immediately, giving him the time only to prepare his accounts and hand them over. But the story takes an unexpected turn. The manager is faced with two impossible alternatives: he can either beg or dig ditches, but he cannot imagine taking either of those paths. To avoid them he comes up with another way to swindle his master. He goes around to his master's debtors and succeeds in corrupting them and lowers the amount of money they owe. In return they agree to take him in and support him after his dismissal. What emerges is the figure of a man with few scruples. It is amazing then to read the conclusion the evangelist gives the story: "His master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly" (v. 8).
What is offered as an example is the man's skill in securing his salvation. Jesus wants to transfer the shrewdness that many people use in the affairs of their ordinary lives to the level of salvation. In other words, Jesus seems to be telling his listeners, "How does this manager obtain his salvation? How does he keep from digging ditches and begging? How is he securing his future?" And the answer is, "By being generous towards debtors." In effect, the manager's future and his life itself depended on his generosity. And so he used it to bind himself to the debtors. And Jesus adds, "Make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into eternal homes" (v. 9).
Make friends for ourselves. But we need to be careful. Friendship cannot be bought; it is built with the generosity of a ready and willing heart. This is the crux of today's parable: generosity towards debtors (the poor and the weak) saves our lives and our future. Be friends with the poor and you will be saved. This is the shrewdness the Gospel asks of us today