“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? . . . 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 know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’” Luke 16:1-4
CONSEQUENCES OF POOR STEWARDSHIP
So Luke presents us with a “rich man,” who, like God in creating each of us, has placed a “steward” (each of us) in charge of the rich man’s treasures which the steward “squanders.” Perhaps it would be helpful if we reflect upon how well we are being stewards of the gifts and graces that God has placed within us and within the people and the situations that surround us.
What was the steward doing with his life and what was he treasuring?
These are questions that this story should be raising in us about our own lives and about what we truly treasure.
GIVING ATTENTION TO WHAT MATTERS
Then, when faced with a loss of income, we are led to believe that the fired steward’s first concern was about preserving his lifestyle. This should lead us to wonder how we would act if something doesn’t go the way we expect. What would be and what should be our primary concerns? What does this say about what or who is important to us?
In Bishop Robert Barron’s Saint Augustine of Hippo video1, he tells us that, after Augustine heard about the God-centered lives of St. Anthony and the desert monks, he said to a philosopher and friend, “What is the matter with us? These men have none of our education, yet they stand up and storm the gates of heaven while we, for all our learning, lie here groveling in this world of flesh and blood.” And then, recognizing his resistance to what he was coming to recognize about God and His interest in us, humans, Augustine began weeping and cried out in anguish, “How long shall I keep saying, ‘Tomorrow, tomorrow’?”
So, it is not only us living today who find it hard to let God be the center of our lives. Even saints as great as Augustine had to make changes to his thinking and to his daily routine in order to find the God to whom he would later say:
“So late did I love You, O Beauty,
so ancient, and yet so new!
So late did I love You!
“For behold, You were inside me, but I was outside,
and sought you there.
I, unlovely, rushed heedlessly
among the things of beauty
that You had made.
“You were with me,
but I was not with You.
“Things kept me far from You,
which would not have been,
if they had not been in You.
“You called, and cried aloud,
and broke open my deafness.
You gleamed and shined,
and chased away my blindness.
“You breathed out odors,
and I drew in my breath,
and now I breathe heavily for You.
“”I tasted,
and now I hunger and thirst.
You touched me,
and I burned for Your peace.”
– Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions, Book 10, chapter 27, Translation: Sister Maria Boulding, OSB.
ADDING DISCIPLINE TO COUNTER BUSYNESS AND LAZINESS
We, humans, have a tendency not to think about these matters. Let us consider setting aside time for this. The wisdom of the Church provides us many means of doing this, including daily prayer, recommendations of frequent examination of conscience and confession, weekly Mass attendance and lifelong faith formation.
Maybe we also should think about what our lives would gain were we to make God and weekly Church-going a regular part of our lives.
Sister Loretta
- Note that a viewing and dialogue on this Word on Fire video will be part of our September 20, 2022 Explorations in Faith and Spirituality sessions at 12:45 PM and again at 7:30 PM in the Parish Center. Please consider joining us for either session.
