25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C Homily “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.” With these words in today’s gospel reading (Lk 16:1-13), Jesus emphasizes to us that we cannot be of the world and still be of God, rather, we can only be in the world and be of God. This means that, God must be the center of our lives and focus and not the world or things of the world. Jesus in today’s gospel reading challenges us to be true stewards of God and reminds us that we will be called to give an account of our stewardship to God after our lives on earth. Jesus emphasizes this challenge in the gospel reading by giving us the parable of the dishonest steward not to support the dishonest steward but to show us the resourcefulness of this dishonest steward in planning his future and his coping strategies with an emergency situation to ensure his future. Take a moment my dear friends and think about the effort and actions of this dishonest steward, who made sure his earthly happiness was secured and provided for when he loses his employment. My dear friends in Christ, as we come to the end of the week, what efforts have we made in our spiritual lives to secure eternal happiness for ourselves in heaven if God were to call us to Himself today? What have we done differently in our spiritual lives to grow in our faith in God, come closer to Him and become better disciples of His? How much time have we spent with God in prayer this past week or in spiritual practices, then compare it with the time we spent on other things and other activities? Ask yourself today, have I practiced any spiritual works of mercy or corporal works of mercy? Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is time to be more enterprising and resourceful like the dishonest steward in our spiritual lives like we are in our earthly lives. We are stewards of God’s gifts and it is our duty to use those gifts given us for the greater glory of God. But do not forget that we will give an accurate and honest account of our stewardship to God because that is the only way to secure the future for ourselves in the kingdom of heaven. So strive to work hard everyday on your spiritual life by giving more time to God and spiritual practices. And never let people or earthly goods/things take all your time and energy away from God your Maker and Creator, because you will surely give an account of your stewardship to Him after your life on earth.
