04 November. Friday, Week 31

Saint Charles Borromeo, optional memorial

1st Reading: Philippians 3:17-21

Remembering that our citizenship is in heaven

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

Gospel: Luke 16:1-8

Parable of the unjust steward; the children of this age are shrewd in their dealings.

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; or the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.

What really motivates us?

What spurs us to action in our daily lives? Some seem to lack motivation while others are workaholics, swept on by drive and ambition and wanting to drive other people hard as well. A good example of the activist temperament is Paul, apostle of the gentiles, man of many travels (Acts 13-28), prolific writer of letters to the communities of faith that he had founded. In today’s text he boasts of the work he has done for God. We can search his writings for signs of how to regulate our own activity.

The guidance that Paul consciously sought was that of the Holy Spirit, the power through which we become “heirs with Christ”. Paul was at the service of Christ, with a courage that spurred him to preach where Christ’s name was unknown. Yet all through this work Paul found time for prayer and contemplation, for being with the Christ whom he proclaimed as saviour. His ideal was to inspire new life in the hearts of believers. He could urge the Philippians to “be imitators of me,” sharing in his spirit of self-giving. True Christianity is forward-looking, for already “our citizenship is in heaven.” Paul was and remained an apostle of hope. We read from him today: Christ will give a new form to this lowly body of ours and remake it according to the pattern of his glorified body.

In the gospel today, we find a plainer, more common-sense level of discourse. We are called on to be enterprising and to act with initiative. Jesus notes how worldly people possess these qualities more than the other-worldly. But in making good use of our bodies and human talents, we are serving the God who created us in the divine image and likeness (Gen 1:26) and to offer spiritual sacrifice to God who dwells within us as the temple of divine glory (2 Cor 6:16).

Shrewd, but no paragon of virtue

Some characters in the parables have qualities that are far from admirable. But even those who leave a lot to be desired have some redeeming feature to them. The prodigal son did make the journey home again, even if it was out of desperation. And today’s gospel has us another example of a character who is anything but a paragon of virtue. Yes, this dishonest steward was reckless with his master’s property; yet he too had a redeeming feature. Perhaps Jesus is reminding us that everyone has some admixture of good and bad.

The redeeming feature of the dishonest steward was his shrewd ability to take decisive action when his back was to the wall, to ensure that after he lost his job some people would still owe him a favour. Jesus’ comments on the story suggest that we have something to learn, not from the steward’s dishonesty, but from his shrewdness, his ability to take action when required. Our Christian calling requires us to take decisive action to continue to take the path the Lord is calling us to take. Is there something we need to do or to stop doing if, as today’s first reading says, we are to live according to the example we have received? [MH]

St Charles Borromeo, bishop.

Carlo Borromeo (1538–1584) from a noble family in Arona, Lake Maggiore, was archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584. Among the major Catholic reformers of the sixteenth century, he was responsible for significant reforms in the Church, including the founding of seminaries and organizing the final session of the Council of Trent (1562-63).