Sunday September 18th 2016 Reflection
25th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Based on the readings from: Amos 8:4-7, 1 Timothy
2:1-8, Luke 16:1-13
By Rev. Fr. Bob Johnnene OFM
Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus/
Order Franciscans of Mercy
What powerful instructions
we find in this week’s readings for us to think upon as we go along our highway
of life this week. From the first words of the first reading from The book of
Amos 8: verses 4-7 which tell us the following; Listen to this, you who
trample on the needy and try to suppress the poor people of the country, you
who say, ‘When will New Moon be over so that we can sell our corn, and the
Sabbath finish, so that we can market our wheat? Then by lowering the bushel, raising the
shekel, by swindling and tampering with the scales, we can buy up the poor for
money, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and get a price even for the
sweepings of the wheat.’
The Lord swears it by
the pride of Jacob, “Never will I forget a single thing you have done.’
St. Paul’s letter to
Timothy follows that up with the following instruction. “My advice is that, first of all, there
should be prayers offered for everyone – petitions, intercessions and
thanksgiving – and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may
be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet. And
finally the instruction found in the last paragraph of the Gospel reading from
Luke 16 which has the following advice; “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘The
man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is
dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great.
If then you cannot be
trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches?
And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is
your very own? No servant can be the
slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or
treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave
both of God and of money.’
I have no doubt what we
are being instructed to do and it is a continuation of the teaching that Christ
constantly gave all who would listen.
We have been instructed to
be extremely conscience of the needs of others especially the poor, sick and
aged. We should always conduct ourselves
with honesty in all our daily actions.
We need to offer up
prayers to God, our creator of thanksgiving for the gifts we have been given
and to share them with all we encounter.
Members of our Franciscan
Community in Massachusetts, New York and Georgia work in ministry to the
homeless, in hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and prisons as well as
visitations with Eucharist and often bags of groceries for those who are in
need because of low fixed incomes. Our work is only possible through the
generosity of our benefactors who donate the funds necessary for us to meet the
expenses of our work.
Daily we pray for everyone
especially those who may have hurt us in some way either intentionally or
unintentionally and ask God for forgiveness for any hurts we may have inflicted
on others.
This is a way of life that
all followers of Our Lord Jesus Christ should be living to insure they fulfil
in their lives the way Christ instructed us too live.
The readings inform us to
refrain from cheating others by selling goods at a far greater profit than
necessary and to make sure that what we do sell is the best that we can provide
for the amount being charged. Sadly, not
all businesses, even those owned and operated by so called Christians, follow
this teaching of Jesus.
In short we should refrain
from having excessive profits from any business we own and share our blessings
with those in need or with charities that do provide for them.
I wonder if the major
corporations of this world have ever heard or read these passages.
Pope Francis has reminded
us of the need for us to be merciful to those with needs when he said: These days there is a lot of poverty in the
world, and that's a scandal when we have so many riches and resources to give
to everyone. We all have to think about how we can become a little poorer…….There
is a danger that threatens everyone in the church, all of us. The danger of
worldliness. It leads us to vanity, arrogance and pride.”
It would seem to me that
they have not considering what has taken place in recent history and continues
every business day.
In today’s world it seems
that far too many people have given themselves over to greed and money as their
master rather than trying to serve God as best as they can.
Very possibly we need to
give serious thought to who our master is.
Do we serve God or do we serve the God of Greed often called Satan.
We need to take the last
words of the Gospel, You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.”
to heart and make any changes in our lives that need to be made so that we live
our lives and are not doing the following; trample on the needy and try to suppress the poor people of the
country, but are; offering
prayers for everyone of petitions, intercessions and thanksgiving especially
for kings and others in authority of the nations and religions of this world,
so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet
with compassion, respect, justice and equality for All God’s children with no
regard for their race, nationality, religious denomination or sexual or gender identity. AMEN
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