Are you a steward of God’s love?
Our readings for this Sunday focus on how we bring the
bountiful wealth of God – God’s love – to all via our proper stewardship of our
resources, be they material or spiritual, tangible or intangible.
In our reading from Amos, we learn that the people of the
southern kingdom have fallen out of right relationship with God, and thus have
begun dealing in impiety and fraud, ignoring the day dedicated to God (the new moon) and cheating others, fixing their scales. Their pride should come from their
relationship with God; instead, they are fixed on their own betterment,
which results in injustice and the abuse of their neighbors. Having placed themselves in a position of
power, they are not the kinds of stewards
God is looking for. In Psalm 113, on the
other hand, God raises up the lowly from the dust to seat them with princes; it is God’s action that confers upon the
poor an identity and recognizes their capacity for positive stewardship of
God’s love.
In the Gospel reading from Luke, Jesus offers his disciples
the parable of the dishonest steward, who is prompted by his master’s plan to
dismiss him to treat his master’s debtors justly,
foregoing the interest he might otherwise make off of their debts so that he
might remain in their good graces even as he loses his job as steward. He thereby uses dishonest wealth to improve his relationship with God and with
other, serving the world-to-come more than the world he has abused.
As Christians, we are likewise called to be stewards, using prudently the gifts we are given – both tangible material possessions and God’s
intangible love! – as they should be used, with truth, dignity and
openness. We must place our relationship
with God foremost in our lives, allowing it to dictate all that we do, that we
might lead a quiet and tranquil life in
all devotion and dignity (1 Timothy), prayerful, prayer-filled, living God’s
truth before all.
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
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