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6 November/Saturday/31st Week in Ordinary Time,  

Rom 16,3-9.16.22-27/Psa 145,2-3.4-5.10-11/Luke 16,9-15

 By Most Rev Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD

First Reading: Romans 16:3-9,16,22-27

The mystery kept secret for endless ages must be broadcast everywhere

My greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked death to save my life: I am not the only one to owe them a debt of gratitude, all the churches among the pagans do as well. My greetings also to the church that meets at their house.

Greetings to my friend Epaenetus, the first of Asia’s gifts to Christ; greetings to Mary who worked so hard for you; to those outstanding apostles Andronicus and Junias, my compatriots and fellow prisoners who became Christians before me; to Ampliatus, my friend in the Lord; to Urban, my fellow worker in Christ; to my friend Stachys. Greet each other with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.

I, Tertius, who wrote out this letter, greet you in the Lord. Greetings from Gaius, who is entertaining me and from the whole church that meets in his house. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends his greetings; so does our brother Quartus.

Glory to him who is able to give you the strength to live according to the Good News I preach, and in which I proclaim Jesus Christ, the revelation of a mystery kept secret for endless ages, but now so clear that it must be broadcast to pagans everywhere to bring them to the obedience of faith. This is only what scripture has predicted, and it is all part of the way the eternal God wants things to be. He alone is wisdom; give glory therefore to him through Jesus Christ for ever and ever. Amen.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 144(145):2-5,10-11

I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.

I will bless you day after day

    and praise your name for ever.

The Lord is great, highly to be praised,

    his greatness cannot be measured.

Age to age shall proclaim your works,

    shall declare your mighty deeds,

shall speak of your splendour and glory,

    tell the tale of your wonderful works.

All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,

    and your friends shall repeat their blessing.

They shall speak of the glory of your reign

    and declare your might, O God.

Gospel Acclamation: cf. Acts 16:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

Open our heart, O Lord,

to accept the words of your Son.

Alleluia!

Gospel   Luke 16:9-15

Use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of eternity. 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.’

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and laughed at him. He said to them, ‘You are the very ones who pass yourselves off as virtuous in people’s sight, but God knows your hearts. For what is thought highly of by men is loathsome in the sight of God.’

Reflection

The Gospel Reading presents various tit-bits about how we should take care of what others have entrusted to us for safe keeping. The reading offers three principles that should occupy our attention as we reflect on the exhortation of Jesus to be good stewards. We have to keep in mind that the way we take care of little or minor material things entrusted to us is an indication of our ability to cater for spiritual things. If we are not able to be good custodians of material things, no one would entrust spiritual things which are more precious to us. The earthly or material things entrusted to us are a loan from God. When we manage them well, we prove ourselves to be good stewards and God would entrust greater things to us.

Jesus also points out that our failure to manage well earthly things entrusted to us impedes the possibility of giving us what is our own to manage the way we want. It is common knowledge that if a person cannot manage wealth well, even what is due him/her by right either by inheritance or qualification is never entrusted to the person. Usually, we look for an administrator to handle the wealth of such a person so that he/she would not squander it. This is only a precautionary measure but it tells us that we cannot expect God to give us his graces if we are not capable of managing them well.

The best way to learn to be good stewards is through faithfulness to one master who is God. If we try to please both man and God, we risk losing allegiance to one or both. In this situation, we would be considered unfaithful stewards and we cannot be entrusted with anything by any of the two masters. Our allegiance to God makes us true and faithful Christians who are ready to serve God alone and no other. In the First Reading, Paul presents a list of people who have been faithful in the way they lived their Christian life in the Church of Rome. May we also endeavour to live worthy lives so that we can be counted among the faithful ones of our own generation.

5 November/Friday/31st Week in Ordinary Time,  

Rom 15,14-21/Psa 98,1.2-3.3-4/Luke 16,1-8

By Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD

First Reading    Romans 15:14-21

My duty is to bring the Good News from God to the pagans

My brothers, I am quite certain that you are full of good intentions, perfectly well instructed and able to advise each other. The reason why I have written to you, and put some things rather strongly, is to refresh your memories, since God has given me this special position. He has appointed me as a priest of Jesus Christ, and I am to carry out my priestly duty by bringing the Good News from God to the pagans, and so make them acceptable as an offering, made holy by the Holy Spirit.

I think I have some reason to be proud of what I, in union with Christ Jesus, have been able to do for God. What I am presuming to speak of, of course, is only what Christ himself has done to win the allegiance of the pagans, using what I have said and done by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus all the way along, from Jerusalem to Illyricum, I have preached Christ’s Good News to the utmost of my capacity. I have always, however, made it an unbroken rule never to preach where Christ’s name has already been heard. The reason for that was that I had no wish to build on other men’s foundations; on the contrary, my chief concern has been to fulfil the text: Those who have never been told about him will see him, and those who have never heard about him will understand.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 97(98):1-4

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

Sing a new song to the Lord

    for he has worked wonders.

His right hand and his holy arm

    have brought salvation.

The Lord has made known his salvation;

    has shown his justice to the nations.

He has remembered his truth and love

    for the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen

    the salvation of our God.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth,

    ring out your joy.

Gospel Acclamation 2Cor 5:19

Alleluia, alleluia!

God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself,

and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled.

Alleluia!

Gospel      Luke 16:1-8

The master praised the dishonest servant

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There was a rich man and he had a steward denounced to him for being wasteful with his property. He called for the man and said, “What is this I hear about you? Draw me up an account of your stewardship because you are not to be my steward any longer.” Then the steward said to himself, “Now that my master is taking the stewardship from me, what am I to do? Dig? I am not strong enough. Go begging? I should be too ashamed. Ah, I know what I will do to make sure that when I am dismissed from office there will be some to welcome me into their homes.”

Then he called his master’s debtors one by one. To the first, he said, “How much do you owe my master?” “One hundred measures of oil” was the reply. The steward said, “Here, take your bond; sit down straight away and write fifty.” To another, he said, “And you, sir, how much do you owe?” “One hundred measures of wheat” was the reply. The steward said, “Here, take your bond and write eighty.” ‘The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.’

Reflection

The Gospel Reading compares the astuteness of the children of this world with that of the children of light by means of a parable. It was common practice in the Ancient Near East for large property owners or wealthy people to engage the services of a business manager. The task of the business manager was to oversee or manage the property of the master. Normally, these managers gave out the goods of the master on credit to debtors who paid the due sum with interest. Normally, the payment was made to the business manager who then paid the master what was his due and kept the rest of the interest.

Granting that the unfaithful business manager in the parable also followed a similar practice, we can understand his decision to revise the debt of the debtors of the master. Having been informed that he would be dismissed, he was aware that the amount that would have accrued to him upon payment by the debtors would no longer come to him. In the eyes of the debtors, his action to reduce their debt was a favour to them but for the unfaithful servant, he was only cancelling his own share on the interest on the loan. He did not want what was his due to go to the master who was dismissing him.

Jesus said in the parable that the master upon learning about what the unfaithful business manager did, praised him for his astuteness. As far as Christians are concerned, neither the unfaithfulness of the business manager nor the manner in which he dealt with the debtors is recommendable. The only thing we can learn from the action of the unfaithful business manager is how we should be intelligent in making use of the gifts or talents that God has given us. We should not be dormant and inactive because that would not be a good response to the invitation of the Lord to bring to fruition the gifts he has bestowed on us.

Like Paul in the First Reading, we should also learn to carry out our God-given duties to the best of our abilities. This is a sure way to show that we are capable of managing the things the Lord entrusts to us.

4 November/Thursday/31st Week in Ordinary Time,  

Rom 14,7-12/Psa 27,1.4.13-14/Luke 15,1-10

By Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD

First Reading: Romans 14:7-12

Each of us must give an account of himself to God

The life and death of each of us has its influence on others; if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord, so that alive or dead we belong to the Lord. This explains why Christ both died and came to life: it was so that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. This is also why you should never pass judgement on a brother or treat him with contempt, as some of you have done. We shall all have to stand before the judgement seat of God; as scripture says: By my life – it is the Lord who speaks – every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall praise God. It is to God, therefore, that each of us must give an account of himself.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 26(27):1,4,13-14

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.

The Lord is my light and my help;

    whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

    before whom shall I shrink?

There is one thing I ask of the Lord,

    for this I long,

to live in the house of the Lord,

    all the days of my life,

to savour the sweetness of the Lord,

    to behold his temple.

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness

    in the land of the living.

Hope in him, hold firm and take heart.

    Hope in the Lord!

Gospel Acclamation cf. Psa 129:5

Alleluia, alleluia!

My soul is waiting for the Lord,

I count on his word.

Alleluia!

Gospel Luke 15:1-10

There will be rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:

‘What man among you with a hundred sheep, losing one, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the missing one till he found it? And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours? “Rejoice with me,” he would say “I have found my sheep that was lost.” In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.

‘Or again, what woman with ten drachmas would not, if she lost one, light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she found it? And then, when she had found it, call together her friends and neighbours? “Rejoice with me,” she would say “I have found the drachma I lost.” In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner.’

Reflection

The First Reading is not easily understood if we do not take into consideration the argumentation of Paul in previous verses of his letter to the Romans. The remark of Paul that “if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord” cannot be well understood if it is not placed in the right context. The leading sentence at the beginning of the reading, namely, “the life and death of each of us has its influence on others” must be linked with the argumentation at the beginning of the Chapter if it is to be well understood.

In Rom 14,1-3 Paul exhorts the Romans to welcome those who are weak in faith without having to argue about opinions. This has to do with eating meat offered to pagan gods. Opinions at the time differed depending on how one considered the gods, whether they were real gods or not. Some Christians held that once the animal is offered to the pagan gods, a Christian should not eat the meat. They felt that participating in the meal prepared with such meat would be a sign of solidarity with pagans and their gods. Others were of the opinion that once they did not believe in those pagan gods, they could eat the meat as they would eat the meat of any animal.

The concern of Paul is the need for solidarity among Christians. We should learn to support one another so that together we can grow in faith. This cannot be done in an atmosphere of selfishness where some live for themselves without consideration for others. In Greek culture, living for others means rendering our lives beneficial to others. If we are concerned about the welfare and the salvation of our brothers and sisters in the Christian community, we would do all we can to uplift them in the faith. Jesus wants all of us to be saved, none of us should be lost.

In the Gospel Reading, the two short parables confirm the importance that God gives to each individual. God does not judge or treat with contempt the one who goes astray. He goes to look for him and brings him/her back to the fold. He expects the same attitude from us as we live for our brothers and sisters.