FIRST READING
“A minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable.”
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans (Romans 15: 14-21)
I myself am satisfied about you, my brethren, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has wrought through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and as far round as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ, thus making it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on another man’s foundation, but as it is written, “They shall see who have never been told of him, and they shall understand who have never heard of him.”
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 98: 1 .2-3ab.3cd-4 (R. see 2b)
R/. The Lord has shown his deliverance to the nations.
O sing a new song to the Lord,
for he has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought salvation. R/.
R/. The Lord has shown his deliverance to the nations.
The Lord has made known his salvation,
has shown his deliverance to the nations.
He has remembered his merciful love
and his truth for the house of Israel. R/.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Shout to the Lord, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song,
and sing out your praise. R/.
ALLELUIA I John 2:5
Alleluia. Whoever keeps Christ’s word, in him truly love for God is perfected. Alleluia.
GOSPEL
“Sons of this world are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Luke 16:1-8)
At that time: Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ “And the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ “He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ “And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty. ’“Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe? ’ “He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ “He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ “The master commended the dishonest steward for his prudence; for the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
TODAY’S REFLECTION
Wisdom is a quality Christ requires of his disciples:” …. The people of this world are shrewder in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.” We would lost the point of this story if we concentrated more on analyzing the ethnics of the shrewd servant’s actions than on finding out the wisdom Christ wants his disciples to learn from such actions. What Christ asks his disciples to learn is the wise use of wealth and worldly positions, which easily fade away, so as to secure something superabundantly greater and which lasts forever – eternal life. Thus Christ says in another passage: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy… store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” Let us learn to be wise with our wealth.