”No servant can serve two masters”

Today at Holy Mass in the first reading the Prophet Amos addresses the people of his day who cheat others….We all work in the world and in one form or another, each of us have encountered this situation,…..”Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land! - The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done!”…….To steal is a grave sin but to rob from those who are poor - This is a sin that cries to God directly!…..Each of us must work - “I get it” - Trust me!…However, when we “cut corners”…When we ”fix the scales” in the marketplace to give ourselves an unfair advantage…We steal from those less fortunate - This sin is grave indeed….I have learned in my own life that we "get away with nothing" - I learned that the hard way!…..While we may “think” we “get away” with a certain action….Bad behavior and bad habits bleed into other aspects of our life - Effecting decisions, relationships and ultimately undermining outcomes that we “thought” went unnoticed - What we “thought” we “got away with” - "Comes back to haunt us", as we say in New Jersey..…Jesus tells us in the Gospel today from St Luke….”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?”…..We each must make as choice….Do you live for the Kingdom of God?….Or….Do you live for the Kingdom of this world?……When Jesus fasted for 40 days in desert, preparing himself to suffer and die for the sins of the world…The devil gave Jesus an “offer”…........”Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and their glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve…..The devil makes the same “offer” to us….And those who are most gifted….The offer is not just a “dream”…It literally could become reality….What is our answer?

“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 both God and mammon"

Jesus when he died was buried in a borrowed grave…Scripture tells us Joseph of Arimathea, who was a wealthy and a “well connected" man…Who followed Christ…Joseph approached Pontius Pilate, requested the body of Jesus and also gave him a “proper” place to be buried…And as a result….His name is mentioned and honored to this very day……There is nothing wrong with earning a good living….There is nothing sinful about money…Its how we use it…..And Joseph of Arimathea clearly put his money to good use….Don’t you agree?…….How about us?…….Years ago, I traveled to Argentina for work….It was one year after the country went bankrupt…..Before Argentina’s monetary system collapsed, believe it or not…The Argentine Peso was “dollar for dollar" with America currency…What does that mean? - Argentina was a rich country like America - And then, just like that…The currency in Argentina was complete worthless…To give you an idea about what I am talking about…When I was in Buenos Aires, which is one of the great cities of the world….A high-end steak dinner, which would have costed hundreds of dollars before the crash, cost me twenty-two American dollars - The price of a meal at a diner in New Jersey….All the wealth of the country and the people of Argentina was taken away - In a matter of minutes….Do you think that could not happen here in America?…..And if it did…Everything that was “important” to so many would mean nothing…..Jesus asks us to be good stewards…That means we always “keep an eye” on heaven…..When we loose focus…When we take our eyes off Christ….Something replaces our gaze…And that “something” usually is power, prestige and money…..Once again…There is nothing sinful about making a good living - I make a good living….There is nothing sinful about making money…It all comes down to how we use it…..And how we use it will define who we become…And where we “end up” when the final whistle blows

“Jesus said to his disciples, "A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, 'What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship”

We are reminded today in the readings from Mass that we are to prioritize God above all things…When we place God “on top” - Everything else falls into place in our life…How easy it is to “get lost” in the comforts of this world….Many Americans (the collective "we") live like we will never die - Until we get sick - And die!…..When we look at America today, the crisis our nation is living through - Behind most of the “virtue signaling” that comes from secular humanists of all stripes….Under it all - Is a deep self hatred…....."Those who have been given so much, much is expected" - That is “baked in” to our DNA as human beings, whether we like it or not…And when the most gifted of our society lives for themselves only…Innately, a self-loathing germinates within that person…And that self-loathing is projected forward into what is called in polite company “progressive values” and “woke ideologies”…..God made us all the same in so many ways…..And if we have been given great gifts, we are to use those gifts to not only benefit ourselves and our family, but others as well….And if we choose not too - There is a cost to pay…That cost is “self-loathing”…..And that cost steals our joy and peace……”No servant can serve two masters”…..JMJ