Purpose-Driven

Catholic Liturgy for the 25^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Sept. 22, 2019. Gospel of Luke 16:1-13. Theme: Are You Purpose-driven in the Right Direction?

The parable we heard today was not told in order to give us a lesson in business management or financial investments. So, no need for us to get caught up in the details of the steward cutting his commission to make his customers like him and welcome him into their homes.  Or in wondering what the curious phrase “dishonest wealth” might mean.

It is simply an attention-getting story Jesus used to convey his teachings on wealth, trustworthiness and keeping a proper perspective on material things.  And it’s a reminder that what we do in this life has a direct connection to where we will spend eternity in the next.  Jesus is telling us to be wise in what we do with our money, in how we use it for the sake of the bigger picture of our lives. He wants us to look ahead to the end of our temporary time on earth, and make a long-term investment that will yield for us the dividends of eternal life.

Like the clever steward of the parable, Jesus wants us to be purpose-driven, but he wants us to be purpose-driven in the right direction!  And that direction is towards Heaven. He knows that attachment to wealth and riches too easily become for us an obstacle, a distraction and a deception.  It misleads us away from the ultimate purpose of human life, which is to know, love and serve God in this world so as to be happy with him forever in the next.

And to make sure we could grasp his message in one way or another, Jesus taught us by both word and example.  I think we often seem to forget that, as God-come-in-the-flesh, he could have pre-arranged for himself a life in a luxurious palace with royal parents, but instead he freely chose to enter our world and grow up in the simple home of a poor working class family, becoming himself a laborer in Nazareth. And, for the last three years of his life he lived in utter simplicity, devoting his time and energies to preaching about the true riches that last, the treasure that we make for ourselves in Heaven by our acts of love for God and neighbor.

You see, Jesus knows that the spiritual danger of wealth is not at all in the money itself, but in the attitude, the attachment, of those who possess it, or better yet, who are possessed by it.  Both rich and poor can become consumed with an unhealthy desire for more and more – which we call greed -  allowing it to become a driving force, a central motivation in their lives.

Jesus knows that greed – this obsessive love of money - is such an ugly thing that can fool even the best of us:  It lures us to see people as potential profits or debits instead of as persons.  It tempts us to dismiss the poor and needy as a drain on society.  It motivates us to use our talents primarily for ourselves and our personal advancement instead of also for God’s glory and the good of the human family. It works against us in storing up treasure for Heaven and instead accumulates for the greedy a deposit awaiting them in Hell.

Ultimately, what Jesus is telling us in today’s gospel is that from God’s point of view the amount of money we have matters very little. It’s what we do with it that makes all the difference in this life and in the next.  I think we can each see where we stand in the light of this teaching by honestly asking ourselves some important questions such as: 

·       If I am wealthy, am I attached to the money I have? Would life seem to have become less meaningful if it was all suddenly taken away? 

·       If I am not wealthy, am I obsessed with the desire for the money that I wish I had?

·     Do greed and envy dwell in my heart? Do I truly understand deep within me that while money can take care of my needs, it can never be the source of my joy and fulfilment in life?

·       Do I keep in mind that one day I will have to stand before God and give an accounting of how I used the riches that he has given me?  

·       Do I realize that there is a direct relationship between how I use wealth in this world and where I will spend my eternity in the next?