Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
November 8, 2024
Today’s Readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/110824.cfm
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.’
Luke 16:1-4
When I was a kid, this parable was referred to as the Parable of the Wiley Steward. We’ve gotten sophisticated now and call it the “Unjust Steward” or the “Penitent Steward”. But I still like “wiley”, maybe because I love the cartoon character “Wile E. Coyote” (pictured above.) Like the Gospel steward, Wile E. continually tried to advance himself by devious plots against the Roadrunner or Bugs Bunny. These deceptions always backfired and Wile E ended up in worst shape than before.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray not to try to fool God or ourselves by false excuses or self-serving plots. We ask for the courage to be good stewards of God’s gifts, using them generously and truthfully for God’s purposes.
Prose: St. Augustine on The Wiley Steward – (Sermon 359 A.10)
Why did the Lord Jesus Christ present us with this parable? He didn’t approve, surely, of that cheat of a servant; he cheated his master, he stole from him, and didn’t make it up from his own pocket. On top of that he also did some extra pilfering; he caused his master further loss, in order to prepare a little nest of quiet and security for himself after he lost his job. Why did the Lord set this before us? Not because that servant cheated, but because he exercised foresight for the future, to make Christians blush, who make no such provision, when even a cheat is praised for his ingenuity. I mean, this is what he added: Behold, the children of this age are more prudent than the children of light. They perpetrate frauds in order to secure their future. In what life, after all, did that steward insure himself like that? What one was he going to quit when he bowed to his master’s decision? He was insuring himself for a life that was going to end; won’t you insure yourself for one that is eternal?
Music: Stewards of the Earth – Omar Westendorf
A little addition for those who never heard of Wile E. Coyote:
Lavish Mercy 