{"id":2967,"date":"2019-09-22T11:26:30","date_gmt":"2019-09-22T15:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2967"},"modified":"2019-09-22T11:26:30","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T15:26:30","slug":"25th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/25th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-c-homily-3\/","title":{"rendered":"25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

25<\/a>th<\/a><\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C<\/a>
Amos 8:4-7
Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8 (see 1a, 7b)
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 16:1-3
September 22, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our readings\nstart today with the prophet Amos speaking to those \u201cwho trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The people to whom he is speaking would say\nthey keep the Sabbath holy.  However, they\ndo not let themselves be transformed by what the Sabbath offers.  They can\u2019t wait for the Sabbath to be over so\nthey can get back to what they really want to do, making more money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They will do\nanything to make more money.  They are\nnot honest in their business dealings, cheating on the scales and adding to the\nshekel.  They are even willing to \u201cbuy the lowly<\/em>\u201d and \u201cthe poor.<\/em>\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their dishonest business dealings, they are, in a sense, breaking the commandment against stealing and failing to love their neighbor (not treating them with dignity).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This all goes back to them not keeping the Sabbath holy.  If they allowed themselves to be transformed by what happens on the Sabbath, they would not conduct their business dealings with such dishonesty, motivated by greed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we allow\nourselves to be transformed by our Sabbath celebration, instead of taking\nadvantage of the poor, we will seek to be like the Lord \u201cwho lifts up the poor<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people\nthat Amos spoke about were clearly being, at the very least, dishonest in their\ndealings.  Turning to the parable Jesus\ntells today, we hear about the rich man\u2019s steward.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The steward is reported to the rich man for \u201csquandering his property<\/em>.\u201d  This doesn\u2019t necessarily mean the steward is stealing.  The job of a steward was to manage the master\u2019s resources well.  To squander is to use wastefully.  Thus, the steward is not doing what he was hired to do.  Thus, for his failure, he is fired.  Before firing him, the rich man tells him to \u201cprepare a full account<\/em>\u201d of his stewardship.  The rich man needs to know what his assets are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The steward\nknows he is in trouble, not just in losing his job, but that he has no means to\nprovide for his future.  He knows he is \u201cnot strong enough to dig<\/em>\u201d and he is \u201cashamed to beg.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does he\ndo?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He starts reducing the debt due from his master\u2019s borrowers.  This might seem like stealing.  However, the scholars say that, in those days, the way the steward made a living was that when they lend out their master\u2019s money, they would properly increase the debt to cover their commission.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, in\nreducing what they owe, this steward is foregoing his commission.  Under other circumstances, this would be\ngenerous.  Here, the steward does it\nhoping that they in turn will be kind to him in the future.  His motives are not great but at least he\nrealizes that if he wants others to treat him with generosity, he needs to do\nthe same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is\nbeginning to change.  Change is\npossible.  There is a saying that \u201cevery\nsaint has a past and every sinner a future. \nWhat do you need to change in your life to allow yourself<\/em><\/strong> to be\nconverted from a sinner to a saint?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another way\nof thinking of it is to imagine it is your time of judgment.  You are told to \u201cprepare a full account of your stewardship<\/em>.\u201d  What have you done with the gifts God has\ngiven you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you made\nyourself a slave to \u201cmammon<\/em>\u201d\n(material wealth) or do you use what you have been given to serve God, to make\nhis kingdom known in this world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we need\nmoney?  Yes.  Money is the means by which we receive\npayment for the work we have done and that we buy what we need for food,\nclothing, and shelter.  Money is not the\nproblem.  It is when we let the money\ncontrol what we do that we become a slave to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus tells\nus, \u201cno servant can serve two masters\u2026 You\ncannot serve both God and mammon.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you find\nthat you have let money become what dictates what you do, then it is time to\nchange.  How does one do that?  We have debts.  We have bills we are committed to.  God doesn\u2019t want use to default on our\nfinancial promises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have\nbeen too focused on money and can change to put the focus on God all at once,\nthen do it.  If not, at least identify small\nsteps you can begin to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t\njust a matter of money.  What else can\nyou do to put God first?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about\nservice to others?  Do you volunteer at\nall?  If you are busy, start with just an\nhour or two.  You can increase how much\ntime you volunteer over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about\nprayer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you haven\u2019t\nprayed on your own in a while, one might make a long-term <\/em><\/strong>goal of\nspending an hour in prayer each day but that is probably too big a change for\nanyone to make all at once.  You might\nnot have the hour to give.  Others might\nfind the hour but what do you do with the hour?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start with\n3-5 minutes, trying different ways of praying and build up.  The same can be true for adoration.  You know we have weekly adoration at St.\nMary\u2019s from 5 to 7 pm every Thursday.  It\nis offered for two hours but we don\u2019t expect anyone to stay for the whole two\nhours.  Most people I have seen come and\npray quietly for anywhere from five minutes to thirty minutes, with some\nstaying longer.  Start small and\nincrease.  The point is to open yourself\nto Jesus and put him first in your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what do you need to do to put God first to grow closer to God?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year CAmos 8:4-7Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8 (see 1a, 7b)1 Timothy 2:1-8Luke 16:1-3September 22, 2019 Our readings start today with the prophet Amos speaking to those \u201cwho trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!\u201d  The people to whom he is speaking would say they keep the Sabbath …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[636,637,638],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-LR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2967"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2967"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2979,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2967\/revisions\/2979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}