First Reading Commentary
"When will the new moon be over?" The new moon is the beginning of a Jewish
festival; and at the end of that festival is when those who lent money at unusually
high rates of interest would demand their payment. In the Gospel there's evidence of this when
Jesus ejected the traders from the temple (cf.
Luke 19:45-48).
What is occurring in this Reading is the
exploitation of the weak by the strong, and the poor being taken advantage of
by the rich. Crooked business dealings, questionable
politics and other forms of unrighteousness are still a reality in today's
society.
God has revealed to us that He is the same
always. It is humanity that makes all
the changes - it is human beings that invent ways to help themselves at the expense
of others; and are somehow arrogant enough to think that God will go along for
the ride. The trouble nowadays is there
are a handful of corrupt and immoral things which have been occurring for so
long that it has almost become acceptable – a mindset or normal way of life for
our society. The immorality of it all is
seldom questioned. The last verse
plainly states how God looks upon it: "Never will I forget a thing they
have done!"
Where do we as Christ's
followers fit in to all of this?
Certainly not as finger pointers!
Each of us has the duty of examining our own consciences. While corruption and immorality may begin
with its perpetrators, its advancement often comes by means of good people
doing nothing.
Second Reading Commentary
Here Saint Paul urges us to pray for each
other and more specifically for those in public office whose decisions could
have a direct bearing on the tranquility and quality of our lives. What has been a concern for so long in other
nations is now a concern in the United States – freedom of religion – in which
the precepts of faith are being marginalized by the federal government. One such issue is the sanctity of life, and
the killing of such life, and religious organizations having to provide the
funding for this immorality.
In Saint Paul's day, Christianity was at a
young age and he was concerned about false teachings creeping in. He tries to assure all that God wishes
everyone to be saved but it is crucial to come to the knowledge of the truth
and stay away from those who were spreading false doctrine. Paul's claims to the truth are supported by
his appointment from Christ Himself to be a preacher and apostle.
In this letter Paul's final wishes are for
prayer while avoiding anger and arguments.
In other words, pray for each other because we're all in this together
as the Mystical Body of Christ.
Gospel Commentary
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church is
the following lesson: "Every practice that reduces persons to nothing more
than a means of profit enslaves man, leads to idolizing money and contributes
to the spread of atheism" (CCC 2424). It's sad that the caution flag Jesus has
waived so often throughout this 'Journey Narrative' is still pertinent
today. It simply means that the lessons
taught by our Redeemer still have not been fully acted upon some two-thousand
years later.
Jesus' native language was Aramaic. The word "mammon" is an Aramaic
word which means "something confided" or "deposited". In this Gospel mammon is clearly the mammon
of iniquity. In the parable there is a
steward who manages the estate of a rich man; but is accused, with good reason,
of mismanagement and thus is removed from his position. The steward doesn't know where to turn
because he is not strong enough for manual labor and he is too ashamed to beg. Unfortunately, he's not too ashamed to
steal. He calls upon his master's
debtors and falsifies their contracts.
In doing so, he has cheated his master even further. The master then commends this corrupt steward
for his prudence.
"For the children of this world are
more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of
light." This can be a difficult
statement to understand. The master and
the steward represent those who live by the ideals of this world. Therefore, the master commends the steward
for such a worldly - looking out for number one - type of solution. The children of light live by the ideals of
the world to come. Although our Lord is
not actually recommending the behavioral tendencies of the children of this
world who ingeniously invent schemes for their temporal advantage, He would
seem to be suggesting that the children of light need to consider themselves
stewards for God by being prudent about the concerns of eternity. In other words, stewards of God need to
conduct their affairs fully aware that they will have to render an account to
their Master because as stewards of God much has been given therefore much will
be required.
"You cannot serve God and mammon." Jesus concludes this Gospel with that
statement to show that serving Him faithfully and properly is not possible if
attached to worldly possessions. There's
no harm in having temporal riches, but if there is anything among those
temporal goods that absolutely, positively cannot be parted with, that
possession, then, is an attachment and is incompatible with serving Christ
because the attachment becomes an idol.
