25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

At the recommendation of my brother, I'm going to start posting my homilies. Feel free to critique and please remember that: A) I am new at this and B) What I write and what I say aren't always the same thing. That said ...

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I'm sure that I am not the only one who was a little confused by today's Gospel reading. What does it mean What was Jesus saying? Was he encouraging us to act like the dishonest steward in the parable? Let's take a closer look at the story and find out.

The steward in the parable was accused of cheating his master – and from what we see him do afterward, we would be safe in assuming that the accusations were true.

When he realizes that he is going to lose his job – his livelihood - the man is honest with himself: he isn't fit to do any other job. He's grown comfortable in his position overseeing his master's property and now he will not allow himself to be forced into manual labor. And he definitely will not lower himself to begging for money.

The steward is faced with an inescapable situation: he is going to lose his position and be on his own with no way to support himself.

Being the clever, though very unethical, guy that he is, he hatches a plan to make some friends who will take care of him when he is jobless. He brings in people who owe his master money and, while he still has the power to do it, reduces the amount that each of them owe.

When you think about it, this plan is not fool-proof. His master is bound to find out what he's done. But instead of punishing him, he commends him for doing what he needed to do to survive. The steward is a crook, a thief and a liar – but he is a clever one, and the master appreciates that.

The steward is wise, because he realizes that he needs to take drastic action to save himself – and then he does it. This is what Jesus wants us to notice in the story.

Rather than encouraging some questionable business practices, Jesus encourages us to see what is necessary and do it.

For the steward, the most important thing in his life was maintaining his status. He knew that he wanted to live a comfortable life and he made sure that happened.

As Catholics, what is the most important thing in our lives?

Right now, Pope Benedict is visiting the United Kingdom. For the past few days, whenever I'm in my room at school I go to a website that has a live video of what's going on over there. It's very interesting to watch the Pope's interactions with the Queen, members of Parliament and the leaders of the Anglican church; but the thing that has most impressed me is the reaction of the regular people of the country.

When Pope Benedict travels down a road, crowds gather on the sides cheering for him – and behind the crowds another crowd of people just keep running along with the Popemobile.

I got to see Pope Benedict a couple years ago when he came to the United States and the reaction was the same. I was in a crowd of thousands of young people and hundreds of seminarians – and we all went crazy – screaming, cheering and singing.

If Catholics can get so excited for the Pope, how much more excited should we be for GOD?

The dishonest steward is an example for us because he had a priority and he made that priority the one, all-consuming concern in his life.

So often, we take God for granted. We do – or we're forced to do - what is expected of us as Catholics. We go to Mass, we try to remember to pray – but how often do we stop and think about what this all means?

If we are Catholics, we really believe in a God who created the world and created us. We believe that Jesus truly is the Son of God and that he died for us. And we believe that, if we give ourselves to Him, we can have eternal joy in Heaven.

All these things that we say in the creed every week – they are really true. And if we believe that, it should make a difference in our lives. It should make us do whatever is necessary to have a relationship with God.

Like the steward in the story, God calls us to action!

To see what is most important and pursue it with all our strength and all our passion.

Believing in God, being a Catholic requires things of us.

It requires us to be prophets in our own time – to be people who speak God's words to the world.

Today's first reading comes from the prophet Amos. Amos was not what we might call a “professional prophet.” He was basically a gardener – a shepherd and a tender of sycamore trees.

He received a call from God to speak his words to the Kingdom of Israel. The rich in the country were oppressing the poor and cheating them. God cannot ignore this – so he sends Amos to warn the Israelites that their actions have consequences.

We also live in a time that needs to hear God's word. Many times, God speaks through our actions – through the way we treat others, especially the poor and those who can't help themselves.

At the end of the Gospel, Jesus says to “make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

We need to use the material things we've been blessed with to help others and give glory to God – to invest in the poor. If we do this, when money finally doesn't matter at all – we would have invested in Heaven and have an eternal home.

Tonight in Hyde Park in London, Pope Benedict told the crowd that “Each of us has a mission, each of us is called to change the world.” How do we do this? By seeing that God – and all that he calls us to do in our lives – is the one thing that really matters.

Can we be like the dishonest steward?

Can we do whatever it takes to follow God's call?