The holy gospel according to Saint Luke. Another time, Jesus said to his disciples, a rich man had a manager who was reported to him for dissipating his property. The man summoned the manager and said to him, what is this I hear about you? Give me an account of your service for it is about to come to an end. The manager thought to himself, what shall I do next?
My employer is sure to dismiss me, to fire me. I cannot dig ditches, and I'm ashamed to beg. I have it. Here is a way to make sure that people will take me into their homes when I am let go. So he called in each of his master's debtors and said to the first one, how much do you owe my master?
The man replied, a 100 jars of oil. The manager said, take your bill, sit down quickly and write 50. Then he said to the second debtor, how much do you owe? The man answered, a 100 measures of wheat. To him, the manager said, take your invoice and make it 80.
The owner then gave his devious employee credit for being enterprising. Why? Remember, this is our Lord speaking. Why? Because the worldly take more initiative than the otherworldly when it comes to dealing with their own kind.
And this is the gospel of the lord. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. I think there are two readings today. This excerpt from Saint Paul's emotional really, which is extraordinary with Saint Paul.
His this very tender letter, although it it has its hard spots to the Philippians and and this allegory, this metaphor, this parable of our blessed lord. Notice Christ praises the man for his being smart. He doesn't condemn him. This has always been a puzzlement to me. Of course, there are many ways you can explain this, and I can give you a couple of them.
But the point is our blessed lord praises the guy. And yet, in a sense, he was cheating. Well, my you see, I don't think he was cheating. After all, these people had owed his master this money. So he's saying, well, it's better to get something than I mean, is a possible explanation.
It's better to get something than nothing, so we'll give them a discount for paying. His master may have been better off for what we you might say was this man's dishonesty. But, however, our blessed lord does not condemn the man. He praises him for being smart, intelligent, quick, getting along with people as we say. Now what strikes me so often is this, that we are, as Christians, as Catholics, so remiss, all of us in putting first things first.
See, this is all the difference between what we call a saint and what we call a non saint. That is the big difference. The difference isn't in what people do. We have had too many recent saints to show you that you can be anything and be a saint as far as activity or nonactivity or what kind of activity. Just think of the comparison or contrast between a Saint Charles Baromeo and a and the the little flower Saint Teresa of Lisieux.
There's no comparison. Or think of her in terms of a of a of Colby giving himself up to death by starvation in place of another man. And yet they're equally saints. What is the difference? The difference is not in what we do because all the things that every Christian does, plenty of non Christians do, plenty of pagans do, plenty of atheists do, plenty of very immoral people do.
What is the difference? The difference is in priority. What do we put first? Saint Paul doesn't say we should go around fasting and not eating. All he's saying is don't make your belly your god.
That's all he's saying. Our blessed lord never told us that we should in a in the real sense, I know this translation of despise, but that's a very poor translation in English at least, in our English. But the thing is, it is how can we say we should despise the things God has made? Can you make any sense out of that? And Christ never spoke nonsense.
Keep that in mind. Some of his followers have done it, and they've been in the church. But the point is our blessed lord didn't. We cannot escape loving god's creatures. The difference is making them god.
There's the difference. It's one thing to say this is God's creature and I love it, but I love the maker more. I love the creator more. I put things in their proper place. I do not let these things become my gods and goddesses goddesses along the way.
I put god first. That isn't that I love them less. Very likely, I love them more. Very likely, I love them more if I love god most. But this is the problem.
Let's be practical. I spent I don't know how many years in Catholic schools. I've spent a lot of years in catechism. And every at least in the grammar school and in the high school, we had catechism every day. Every single day.
And yet, and yet, the religion courses were not at the top heap of our interests. Here today, men and women, some of you in those pews this morning, are making tremendous sacrifices to send your children to Catholic schools. This parish is supporting a Catholic school, a considerable sacrifice, believe me, of the people who pay the money. It doesn't come out of the thin air. And yet what do we what is the what is the priority of religious education in Catholic schools?
What's the priority when the report card comes home? Certainly, in most instances, religious education's in the same class with physical ed. You know where that is. And this and yet Cardinal Newman says that in any educational system, theology should be at the top of the heap. Now I'm not saying this to in criticism.
I'm only saying merely as a matter of fact, in our own lives where we have twenty four hours of the day. How much of that do we consciously live for God? You say, well, I cannot consciously live for God. I've gotta lay my bricks and I can't lay a good brick without putting my mind to it. And let me tell you, it's no excuse to lay poor bricks because you're doing it for the love of God.
It's no excuse to have poor religious courses in class or poor science courses or poor math courses because you're doing it for God. They should be the best in their class. And of course, we can't put God first. If I'm hungry, what I need is food. I'm not thinking of God.
I'm thinking of some something to put in my belly. But that's that's not putting making God my belly. And this is this is the nub of the question. It's not to despise what God has made. It's to love it more because God has made it and we love it more because we love God most.
There's the whole thing. Positive, comparative, superlative. And God says, you've got to put me first. You have got to do that. How do you do it?
As I say, you can't be going around consciously every minute saying, God, I love you. Of course not. Any more than a husband and wife can go around twenty four hours a day facing each other and say, darling, I love you. I never recall well, the point is this is nonsense, isn't it? And yet, our blessed Lord said, whatever you do, do it for me.
And there's the point. The opus dei, the work of the Lord, to be good at what you're doing here and now. Even what even what if it's take for example how often in doing a simple job that you have to do in connection with your work and responsibilities and all the rest and it's something you could cut corners on. Do you cut the corner? Or are you like the Grecian artist who who was painstakingly doing something up in the Acropolis or the Pantheon.
And so I said, why are taking all those pains doing that? No one can see it. And he replied, the gods see it. And so it's in our lives. It's what we do.
That morning offering, putting our lives in God's hands. What controls our decisions? These are the things to ask yourself and reflecting time and again, during the game. I'm in God's presence. I am living for God.
This is no fiction. If this is a fiction, the whole business is a is a house of cards and let's get rid of it. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you die. That's better than being crazy and sacrificing and bearing a cross in this life when there's no hope for the next. Our hope is in heaven.
And as Paul says, you are citizens of heaven. Now, The name of the father and of the son and holy spirit. Amen.