Luke 16:9-15

Scripture: Luke 16:9-15

9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations. 10 "He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." 14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him. 15 But he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

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Reflection:

The reading today has a clear-cut message, “we cannot serve both God and mammon.”

‘Mammon’ is a term for wealth which is regarded having evil influence or it could also be a false object of worship and devotion. It was taken by medieval writers as the name of the devil of covetousness, and revived in this sense by John Milton in the classic Paradise Lost.

As religious, we are within a prevailing global economy where the influence of ‘mammon’ occurs. Mammon could be power, money, or influence. It is true that without money, we do not have purchasing power to buy food and other basic goods in order for us to survive and to live. It is true that without power we cannot be free to become who we are. It is true that without influence we cannot practice our authority as a Church. But as religious, the world is also looking upon us on how we manage our material resources.

As I reflect our life as religious, I can say that it is a contradiction against the prevailing current of the world. The more we know God, the more we understand and connect ourselves to Him. Instead of clinging to the material world, we cling only to Jesus who is the creator of the material world.

Jesus has a poor life… but He has faithful friends who generously supported His earthly ministry as a priest, healer and teacher. This poverty has made Jesus rich by serving God without personal attachments or even without political biases.  Jesus has no power, for He Himself was condemned and crucified. What He had was His genuine love to God, the Father and His obedience to the Father’s will. Jesus has no great influence for He let people to be free in choosing to love God and to freely choose to change.

We know that Jesus is a God who chooses to be a slave. He stripped off Himself of His crown of glory and has chosen to live among us. Thus, Jesus becomes a model for us on how to live generously by giving our self for those who we love.

As religious-seminarian, I always reflect on how I should live. It is always with prudence, modesty and simplicity. I admit that it is so painful to leave behind the comforts of the world but at the end, I realized that with God, I become more free.  Gadgets are constantly changing… collecting newer ones were addictive and exciting… but at the end, it is also tiresome-- for the world never gets tired of reinventing itself until we realized that our youthful energy is already burned out by this worldly trends that seems to be unending and has no plan to stop.

As St. Augustine told us, God is never changing yet God always remains new. It could mean that the love of God is always there since from the beginning of time for us; but every day we always discover newer ways of how God remain loving us. Every day is always a revelation of God’s generous love for all of us. Truly, the love of God is inexhaustible.

As a person, I have only one life. The question is how to use this God given life-- Is this life is a life for ‘mammon’ or is this life is a life for God?

Mammon in our times becomes the little gods. Money, power and prestige become godlike where everyone becomes so willing to surrender their freedom in exchange of wealth, influence and fame. To embrace the cross freely, we need to let go of these baggages. Just like Jesus, in order to love God, we need to empty ourselves through ‘kenosis’ so that the Spirit of God could enter and penetrate freely into the deepest part of our heart where we let God to reside permanently in our heart… our life being the temple of the Holy Spirit. Our life being a reflection of God’s image.

As a person, I have only one life and I want to give it only to my one true God. A Trinitarian God who loves me back… who inspires me and give me strength when I am low… a God who never abandoned me when I have almost nothing… a God who silently suffers with me in everyday trials and persecutions.

As our founder is always telling us, “You already have the Eucharist, what else would you ask for?”

With these great words of our founder, I realized that, yes, I have only one life… and my constant prayer is that I always want to give it back to God who first loved me before I knew how to love Him back.

Amen.