FIRST READING: Amos 8: 4-7. Hear this, you who trample upon the needy, and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying, "When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great, and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the refuse of the wheat?" The Lord had sworn by the pride of Jacob: "Surely I will never forget any of their deeds." EXPLANATION: Amos was a shepherd in the kingdom of Judah who was called by God to go to Israel, the northern kingdom. There he was to speak in God's name to the people. This was in the 8th century B.C. The country enjoyed material prosperity but idolatry and injustice were rife among the upper classes especially. Against these vices the prophet spoke fearlessly, until he was driven from the kingdom eventually. Today's reading deals with the injustices practised against the poor and the helpless. You who trample upon the needy: The prophet is speaking to those who are out to increase their wealth at the expense of the poor.
the poor . . . end: The plutocratic land-lords rendered the holders of the land abject slaves because of the excessive rents they charged. This deprived the tenant farmers of their personal dignity and independence.
new moon . . . sabbath: These godless, as well as heartless, collectors of this world's riches, resented holy-days (New Moon) and the weekly day dedicated to God, because they, and their slaves, were not permitted to do servile work on these days. Hence they resented the occasions because of loss of revenue.
the ephah small: The Ephah was a dry measure (about our bushel) in use among the Israelites. By making a smaller measuring vessel they gave less than they should when selling their grain.
the shekel: The Shekel was a unit of weight, a little less than half an ounce. Stones were used for the weight. By putting heavier stones on the weighing scale when buying, these dishonest merchants would get a larger quantity than they paid for.
deal . . . balances: Whatever means of weighing merchandise they used, they tampered with them so that they always won and their customers lost.
poor . . . silver . . . needy . . . sandals: They can find slaves to produce their wealth at the minimum cost, and without a thought for the needs or the personal dignity of these poor people whom their injustices reduced to poverty.
refuse of . . . wheat: They would mix the chaff with the wheat and thus get paid for what was useless.
The Lord had sworn . . . deeds: God will punish them for their oppression of the poor and he will punish them for every single offence. Twenty-five years after the death of Amos, Israel was over-run by Assyria. All the wealth of the country and the wealthy and ruling classes of the land were taken prisoner to Assyria to end their lives as slaves. They who had made slaves of their fellow citizens became the slaves of a foreign pagan power. APPLICATION: The words of Amos could be addressed to many, far too many, of the business people and others in any town or city of the so-called Christian world today. What a shock for our pride in our humanity, for our boast of the great improvements in our culture and civilization, to learn that on the whole we are no better than the people who lived in Israel two thousand seven hundred years ago, as far as the virtue of justice is concerned. The wealthy are growing more wealthy today on the backs of the poor, just as the godless Israelites did in the days of Amos. Landlords are rack-renting their tenants and driving them into slum-lands that are nothing but slave-dwellings. Merchants and businessmen are cheating their customers, if not always by using false weights and measures, by other more subtle means. Injustices between nations have caused wars. Injustice practised between citizens of the same country, in varied ways, has caused and will continue to cause fratricidal strife. The oppression of the poor is one of the sins crying to heaven for vengeance. God has heard that cry in the past. He will hear it again, if not during the life-time of the offenders then when they face his judgment---which is far worse for them. What has been said above may not, please God, apply to very many, if any, of our Catholic people. As a general rule they are not among the upper, wealthy classes, nor are they very numerous in the ranks of the big business men. Nevertheless, we Catholics can and do offend against justice in many ways, even if on a smaller scale. The smaller store-keeper, if guilty of injustice in his dealings, cannot injure so many people as bigger concerns can and do, but in injuring anyone he is sinning against justice and against God. Business dealings apart, there are many other ways in which injustice is committed, in our dealings with the state, with insurance companies, with local authorities. In the question of employment there are two ways of offending. The employer can be unjust if he does not pay a living wage. There are public and state remedies which can, and are generally invoked today in most countries, to remedy and put an end to this evil. There is the other side to this injustice, which is generally forgotten by the employee and against which the employer often has no redress. This is dishonesty on the part of the employee who fails to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. The employee, whether in dungarees or white-collar, whether he is employed by the state or by a private citizen, who draws a wage which he does not earn, is guilty of injustice and will some day have to render an account of his ill-gotten gains. It would be well for all of us to listen to the words of the prophet Amos today, and to examine our consciences carefully on this virtue of justice. Do we deserve any of the censures which he passed on the Israelites? Are we just, fair and honest in our dealings with our neighbor? If not, we still have time to put our affairs in order before God calls us to render an account of our stewardship. We still have time to avoid an exile worse, far worse, than that which befell the unjust Israelites. We can avoid exclusion from eternal happiness.
SECOND RE4DING: 1 Timothy 2: 1-8. First of all, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarrelling. EXPLANATION: On St. Timothy and on this epistle which St. Paul wrote to him, see the Twenty-Fourth Sunday of the Year.
supplications, prayers . . . thanksgivings: Having urged Timothy, whom he calls his son, to be zealous and faithful in fulfilling the office given him, as overseer or bishop of the Church in Ephesus, he now goes on to give him some detailed instructions. Prayers of petition, intercession, adoration, and thanksgiving must be offered for all mankind. This was one of the practices of the Jewish synagogue taken over by the early Christians in their community gatherings.
kings . . . high position: The kings and civil authorities of that time were pagan. Nevertheless, the Christians should pray for them.
lead . . . life: The peace and tranquility of nations depends largely on the wise laws and regulations made by those in authority. To legislate wisely, men need wisdom, a gift of God. So the Christians must beg God to give this wisdom to the civil leaders. Their pagan subjects could not do this, they did not know the true God and so could not petition him.
Godly . . . way: Christians were meeting already with much opposition, not only from the Jews, but from the pagan authorities incited against them by the Jews (see Acts 17: 5-9). They must pray God to enlighten the pagan authorities so that they allow them to live their Christian lives in peace and dignity.
Acceptable . . . God our Savior: God the Father is called Savior as the plan of salvation was his. He is pleased with this prayer of intercession for
desires all men to be saved: God's Salvific plan is for the whole human race, but each individual must, of his own free will, accept God's plan and put it into practice in his own life.
and come to . . . the truth: The first step towards partaking in God's plan for man's salvation is to know that plan as revealed by and in Christ. Hence, their prayer of intercession is a prayer for divine light for those who are still in ignorance of this revealed truth.
One God . . . one mediator: As he is speaking of pagans, the first truth which they must learn is the oneness of God, monotheism as opposed to the plurality of gods which they admitted. The second basic truth of the plan of salvation is the Incarnation, through which the God-man unites the human with the divine in his own Person and is therefore the perfect and sole mediator.
the man Christ Jesus: Paul is stressing the reality of Christ's human nature here. Perhaps the heresy of Docetism which denied that Christ's human nature was real (he appeared as a man) was already appearing when the letter was written. However, Paul has no doubt as to the true divinity of Christ, so he is simply stressing the fact of the two natures in the one Person, which makes him the perfect mediator.
as a ransom for all: Christ's death on the cross was the completion and climax of the perfect obedience rendered to the Father on behalf of all men by the suffering servant, the true representative of all mankind. He brought human nature back to friendship with God.
borne . . . time: The fitting time was that time predestined and planned by God, from all eternity, in which the Incarnation would take place.
I . . . apostle: Paul was chosen as the chief herald of the Christian faith to the Gentiles.
I . . . quarrelling: He returns to the necessity of prayer. He mentions that the men should pray with uplifted hands, the normal Jewish posture in prayer (he speaks of the women later). Their consciences must be right with God (blameless hands) and with their neighbor (free from anger and dissension). APPLICATION: What St. Paul is telling Timothy, the bishop of Ephesus, to teach his congregation is the necessity and the obligation of prayer. This was one of the basic duties of a Christian as our Lord himself taught his disciples both by example and by precept. The gospels tell us that he prayed frequently to his Father and he told the disciples that they should alway pray (Lk. 18 : 1). That the disciples learned this lesson and put it into practice is evident from the Acts. After the Ascension they returned from the Mount of Olives to the upper room where they were staying and "joined in continuous prayer, (Acts 1: 14); before they elected a successor to Judas "they prayed" (1: 24). When, after Pentecost day, Jewish converts were joining in thousands "they remained faithful to the teaching of the Apostles . . . to the breaking of bread and to the prayers" (2: 42). When Peter and John, arrested by the Sanhedrin for preaching the "resurrection of Jesus," were set free, the whole community "lifted up their voice to God all together" and prayed their prayer of thanksgiving (4: 24). From the very beginning of the Christian Church, therefore, prayer was a basic, an essential, part of Christian living. This was the teaching of Christ himself. St. Paul taught this doctrine to all his converts and this Timothy knew already. What St. Paul is urging on Timothy in today's epistle is the need and the obligation to pray for the conversion of "those in authority" the civil powers, local and central. Their conversion would enable Christians to lead undisturbed, tranquil lives in piety and dignity. More important still, it would help to fulfill the wish of God which is "that all men be saved and come to know the truth." This is the primary petition in the "Our Father," the form of prayer Christ gave his disciples when they asked him to teach them how to pray: "may your name be held holy, may your kingdom come (the kingdom of Christ on earth), may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This, then, is the duty of which St. Paul is reminding Timothy and through him, all of us today : the duty of praying always and everywhere for the conversion of all men to the knowledge and the service of God, their Father. This duty, this obligation, was never more pressing on the true followers of Christ and lovers of God, than it is today. We are living in a world which is torn by strife and divisions. We have localized but bitter wars doing on in several parts of our little world, we are living under the shadow of a possible world conflagration which, with the present means of destruction, invented by men, could exterminate the greater part of the human race in a few weeks, if not in a few hours. The cause of all this is simply that men refuse to admit the brotherhood of man, because they will not admit the fatherhood of God and his plans for their true happiness. If only men would come to see that they are put here on earth, by a loving Father, who gave them great gifts of mind and body, through the proper use of which they can earn an unending life after a few short years here, they would then see all other men as their brothers who are on the same journey as themselves. Instead of impeding their brothers by the abuse of the gifts God gave them, they would share these gifts with them and make the journey easier and safer for all. This, of course, is easier said than done. That does not excuse us Christians from using the means which Christ himself gave us and commanded us to use, to obtain this grace---the acceptance of God's kingdom, the submission to God's dominion over his creation by all men in all places and times. Let us heed the words of St. Paul today, and begin to pray fervently for the conversion of all mankind. God wants all the races and nations of the world to earn heaven. All true lovers of God must wish and want the same. Atheists, agnostics, pagans, Jews, Moslems, Christians of all denominations, are our brothers. They are all sons of God, heirs to heaven, because of the Incarnation, and we must want them all to be with us in heaven for they are our brothers and this is God's wish and intention for all of us. Pray fervently then, and pray frequently, that all men will come to know the truth, namely, that there is but one God, who is Father of all and loves all. That he has arranged an eternity of happiness for all his children, we know. He has done so by sending his divine Son to share in our humanity so that we could thus share in his divinity. May God give the light of faith to all his children so that they may come to see how infinite his love for them is; once they see this they cannot but love him in return.
GOSPEL: Luke l6:1-13. Jesus said to his 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. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations. "He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." EXPLANATION: The lesson which Christ is teaching on this occasion as reported by St. Luke, was that worldly people whose interest is in the things of this world, are much more clever and zealous in their task than are religious people whose interest is in the things of the spirit.
A rich man . . . steward: Christ introduces his lesson with a story which shows the ingenuity of a dishonest servant. About to be sacked for his dishonesty, he makes friends who will help him when he is unemployed, by reducing the amount of the debts that they owed to his employer.
Turn . . . stewardship: The meaning of "Kyrios," Master or Lord, here is disputed. If it means the owner who was cheated by his manager there is no great problem. He didn't approve of having been robbed but he could not fail to notice the foresight and ingenuity of this dishonest man. If Kyrios means our Lord, as it almost always does in Luke, then Christ is praising the ingenuity of the cheating manager! But the following verse excludes this interpretation, for there we are told that the point of the story is that worldly people go to far greater trouble to obtain their ill-gotten gains, than devout, spiritual men do to obtain their spiritual reward, eternal life.
I have . . . houses: The unjust manager made sure of a reception in the homes of his employer's debtors. Now, our Lord is telling his hearers to use their own worldly goods in a manner that will earn for them a lasting reception (in heaven) when their time comes to leave this world and all that they had in it.
He who . . . much: The contrast here and in the following two verses is between earthly and heavenly or spiritual goods. The man who fails to use the wealth or goods of this world properly, trivial and small as they are, in comparison with eternal goods, is not worthy to be given the greater spiritual goods---the eternal reward.
Who will . . . own: A reference again to the dishonest manager, but also the implication that we are only managers of any earthly wealth we may have justly acquired. All the goods of this world belong to God, we are only managers. Therefore do not be like the unjust manager in the story!
No servant . . . two masters: The two masters in question are this world's riches and the eternal, spiritual riches. He who gives himself exclusively (as a slave had to do in those days) to the wealth and pleasures of this world cannot possibly collect any spiritual merits or goods. God and money are self-exclusive in the sense that if one makes himself a slave of money he can give no time to God. The man who wants and does serve God, will waste no time acquiring money beyond what is necessary for him and his dependents' corporal needs. APPLICATION: These words of Christ warning those who would follow him on the road to heaven not to become the slaves of earthly things are applicable to all of us. Most of us may feel that this warning is for millionaires and business magnates. Our Lord didn't say so. There was not a single millionaire in his audience. He meant it for all of us, for what he warned against was not the just acquisition of this world's goods but their unjust acquisition, and the dishonest use of them when they were justly acquired. It was God who created all that exists in this world. He intended these goods for the use of man. We are only managers therefore, of these worldly goods. It is on our way of managing these goods, not on the quantity we had to manage, that our judgment will be based. Millionaires can get to heaven while all paupers have no guarantee that they will make it. Our Lord deduces two lessons for us from the parable of the unjust manager or steward. Firstly, the enterprise which he showed in providing for his earthly happiness when he would lose his employment, was greater and keener than that shown by most of us in providing for our eternal happiness. If we take an honest look at last week as a sample of our lives, how many of its 168 hours did I spend on earning merit for any future life? Granted the 96 hours spent in work and sleep, I still had 72 hours which I could call my very own. How many of them did I devote to spiritual things? In my favor I can count my 40 hours of work if they were devoted to honest labor and also my 56 hours of sleep and rest. Honest recreation can also count in my favor---but all this supposes that I had at least a virtual intention of dedicating my week to the honor and glory of God and for my eternal salvation. Did I give one hour a day to God and the things of God, helping the needy, learning more about my religion, giving a hand in parochial affairs, advising those in difficulties, spiritual or temporal, praying for my own and my neighbor's needs---yet even if I did, it is less than one tenth of the free time I had at my own disposal. If I did not, if I barely managed to get in the Sunday Mass and a few hasty prayers, could anyone suggest that I was showing great interest and was very enterprising as far as my future life was concerned? God is very generous with me. He gives me lots of time for providing for my health and temporal needs each week, and a lot of free time besides. I should not express surprise if he is disappointed at how little of that wonderful gift of time I am willing to give back to him. The unjust steward was far more enterprising as regards earthly provision for himself. The second lesson our Lord wishes to teach us is that we should use what we can spare of our earthly possessions in helping those who are in need of our help. By doing that, we will be making friends who will help us at the judgment seat to get a lasting reception in heaven. Remember that description of the judgment which our Lord gave when he said, "I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was naked and you clothed me"? What we do for the needy we do for him. Those whom we help, as far as we can, will be witnesses testifying for us when our final examination, on which our eternity will depend, comes upon us. Two resolutions worthy of your serious consideration today in relation to earthly goods are: Never let them take up all your time. You have a far more serious purpose in life. Give it a little more thought and enterprise than you have been doing. Secondly, be grateful to God for what he has given you in this life. You might like to have a lot more, but God knows best. Work honestly and be generous with what you have. You are serving God, not money. God will be waiting for you where there is no currency, and where the one bank account that matters will be the good use that you made of your time and your share of this world's goods while you were alive.-c339
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