Developing the Spirit of Prayer and Devotion

Make friends with dishonest wealth? Is this really a quote from Jesus?  

The context for interpreting this saying of the Lord is given to us in the lectionary by using the first reading, that from Amos. This prophet warned the people about the danger of the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor. (Like today?) The social inequalities revealed in the economic structures of ancient Israel were denounced as a form of blasphemy, because many human lives were considered to be nearly worthless. The prophet notes that they sell a poor man for a pair of sandals and other poor ones are sold for silver. This prophetic insight will come to be fully revealed in the life of Jesus when he is betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.  

With this as the context, we can now unpack the words of Jesus. He praises the cleverness of the dishonest manager - not what he did, but rather the fact that he used ability and cleverness to get ahead. The point is this...we too should be clever and enterprising with the spiritual gifts we've been given so as to increase their value. Focus your attention on developing the spirit of prayer and devotion so that greater spiritual gifts may be entrusted to you.

Don't become a servant of wealth. Like fire, it can be a good servant but a vicious and consuming controller. Using our cleverness and ability for the common good will produce more good, so find ways to increase your relationship to God. If those who serve wealth can be enterprising, we who love God should be even more clever in multiplying the spiritual goods available to us and offering them in service to others.

Gratefully,

Fr. Joe Schwab, ofm 

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Lay Hold of the Poor Christ

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The Breath of Prayer