“Riches are long in getting with much pains, hard in keeping with much care, quick in losing with more sorrow…….. Riches may leave us while we live, we must leave them when we die…… Christ tells us VERY CLEARLY, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of heaven.”……To the man who has been given much, MUCH will be expected….Having money is not a sin, its what you do with it that leads towards our sanctification or our damnation….I always say, if someone tells me they believe in God, let that man show his checkbook. In that act, all the “things” he “prioritizes” will be revealed with one glance…..This is not our home, heaven is, we are pilgrims simply passing thru……..While here, we need money to meet our families NEEDS not necessarily their WANTS……..Once again, to the one given much, MUCH will be expected…Those who have ears, let them hear!”

Gospel Text: (Lk 16:1-8)

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,
because you can no longer be my steward.’
The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do,
now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me?
I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg.
I know what I shall do so that,
when I am removed from the stewardship,
they may welcome me into their homes.’
He called in his master’s debtors one by one.
To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’
He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note.
Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’
Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’
He replied, ‘One hundred measures of wheat.’  
He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note;
write one for eighty.’
And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.
For the children of this world
are more prudent in dealing with their own generation
than the children of light.”

 

Reflect, today, upon the simple truth that when it comes to the riches of this world, you are only the steward of what you possess, not its master. God wants you free from the attachment to material wealth so that you will be free to use all that you have for His glory and in accord with His purpose. That does not mean that you must donate all you have to charities. Instead, it means that you continually offer all that you have to God and seek to use it in accord with His will and His will alone. If that means you discern that God wants you to buy something new, then buy something new. If that means giving more away, then give more away. If that means living more simply as a holy sacrifice, then do just that. Money cannot buy happiness. Only embracing God’s will to the fullest will result in the happiness and fulfillment you deeply desire.