[Pearls Episode 137: Preparing for Sunday.]
As we turn our minds to this Sunday’s Gospel message, we note that perspective has a powerful effect on how we see and engage life – doesn’t it?
Approach a cornfield one way and it’s a disorderly array of stalks. Face it from a different direction and orderly rows emerge.
And, when we began to truly observe Sunday as the sabbath and the start of the week, rather than Monday, it took much of the sting and “anticipatory anxiety” out of the work week. Sure, Monday was still Monday, but we had already started out the week with the Creator of the Universe. It put the challenges of the work week in a different perspective.
In Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus asks a question, that, when we think about the implications, recasts the world in a stunning new light. “If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours?”
This is relates to His discussion that we must be trustworthy in small matters, to become trusted in great ones. But our focus is – “who will give you what is yours?”
It begs the question, “what, exactly, is ours?”
Turns out the answer is … everything. “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you.” (1 Cor 3:21)
And St. Paul repeats the same sentiment in Romans, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with Him?” (Rom 8:32)
As we’d expect, the Church Fathers all agree this doesn’t mean we can waltz into the nearest Benz dealership, show them 1st Corinthians, and declare, “this all belongs to me!”
On a side note, scripture verses like these are how some people have invented the “health and wealth” Gospel – that God wants us all to be multi-millionaires and never need a knee replacement, which misses the mark.
But the Fathers do emphasize the meaning that, if we’re giving our life over to God, there is nothing He will hold back if it’s for our benefit. For example, from St. John Chrysostom (re. Romans 8:32), “What St. Paul means then is much as follows; If He gave His own Son, and not merely gave Him, but gave Him to death, why doubt any more about the rest, since you have the Master? why be dubious about the details, when you have the Lord? For He that gave the greater thing even to His enemies, how shall He do else than give the lesser things to His friends?”
This is also tied to statements in scripture such as, “we are joint heirs with Christ” and “God works all things to good for those who love Him.”
We just celebrated Our Lady of Sorrows, and are reminded of the promises of Mother Mary (given to St. Bridget), including, “I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.”
So, if it were truly for our good to have that Benz dealership turned over to us, God and our Blessed Mother would do so in an instant. Of course, there are a host of reasons why most worldly wishes aren’t for our good (just ask all those miserable lottery winners).
But it does mean that, if we’re giving ourselves over to God, everything in our life, and everything that happens to us, is given to us. Put differently, God will turn it into something desirable, almost as if we had asked for it.
It also means that everything that doesn’t come our way – material goods, expectations, worldly success – are also ours. It is as if we turned them down ourself, because we didn’t really want or need them after all.
And it means that we should pray boldly for whatever it is that we desire for ourselves and others, trusting that it’s all ours anyway, and so anything we pray for that is truly for our (spiritual) good, will eventually come our way, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.”
When we take this to heart, everything takes on a different perspective.
Blessings on your journey with Christ –
Steve and Karen Smith – Interior Life
Postscript: The Dishonest Servant (Lk 16:1-13)
Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’
The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’
He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ Then to another the steward said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ The steward said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’
And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.
If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? 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.”