Today’s Gospel Story (Luke 16:1-13) is Jesus’ Parable of the Unjust Steward. Jesus used parables to shock us out of our usual way of thinking. This parable is a challenge to understand because it looks like Jesus is commending the steward for stealing from his master, which it seems he has been doing for a while. The majority report sees this parable as Jesus encouraging his followers to be as zealous in eternal matters as the steward was in taking care of himself. “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” The minority report, as usual, can have many other ideas.
As we hear the Parable this weekend there is a lot going on around us. The polarization over recent events has been turning violent. The finger pointing, blaming, and scapegoating is reaching new levels. What many see as the step by step dismantling of our government is becoming commonplace. And so on. The easy way to deal with all this is point fingers and blame somebody else, which does no good at all.
“No servant can serve two masters . . . You cannot serve both God and mammon.” My perspective as I write these things is that of a senior citizen retired catholic priest with at times intense health issues, which influence very much how I see the world around me. I’ve spent a good chunk of my life as an Active Duty Army Chaplain which has given me some experience, and perhaps even some insight, to the world from Viet Nam, cold war Berlin, and other places. I also believe firmly that somehow Abba is involved in all this that is going on. The practice of Welcome Prayer (Abba, I welcome everything that is coming into my life today because it is of you) is helping me a lot these days, and brings its own meaning and experience to daily life.
This seems like a good time to pray for openness, inspiration, creative courage, humility, and I don’t know what else. I need openness simply because I don’t have all the answers, or even the right questions. Inspiration offers me the opportunity to respect my own ideas, my own journey, and go where they take me. Creative courage buoys me up when I feel the need to take some sort of action, especially when I know others won’t like what I’m doing. I need humility because I will screw up and need to admit it, and perhaps do some apologizing. In all this whenever and wherever, Abba is with me. From time to time I experience this most powerfully, and other times not so much.
To quote the Irish poet and mystic John O’Donohue, “You may not be able to do much about the great problems of the world or to change the situation you are in, but if you can awaken the eternal beauty and light of your soul, you will bring light wherever you go. The gift of life is given to us for ourselves and also to bring peace, courage, and compassion to others.” Perhaps in the providence of Abba, the gift I bring to others in my life is the gift of being myself. And in coming to realize this, I might see the gifts others bring to me in their selves. Then there also is this principle of Buddhism: “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them”. Henri Nouwen: “Our first responsibility in the midst of violence is to prevent it from destroying us.” I can be all this where I live. I have no idea where all this will go, I know I’m part of Something much bigger and greater than all that is going on, and it is good.
None of this is a matter of thinking, reasoning, or logic, but of prayer, trust, love. When I ask the Spirit to give me some idea of what to do, she responds to me about how I am asked to live, not what I am to demand others do so my life can be easier. I need to be open to being surprised and maybe asked to leave my comfort zone. To quote Meister Eckhart: ”God is not what you think … or even what you believe, because God is a word unspoken, a thought unthought, a belief unbelieved. So if you wish to know this God, practice wonder, do what is good and cultivate silence … the rest will follow”. Practice wonder— perhaps ask for the gift of wonder at the people in my life, at the people near and far who are suffering in so many ways, the people I meet everyday whose beauty and goodness sparkles whenever I am open to recognizing it, at life happening around me always no matter how I feel or what is going on around the world. I need to be led beyond my own comfort and convenience. As Pope Leo said: “I believe it is urgent to establish a pastoral ministry that is supportive, empathetic, discreet, and non-judgmental, welcoming to all, and that offers the most personalized paths possible, suited to the diverse life situations of those receiving it.”
These days we are witnessing the terrible increase of violence both close by and world wide. The Gospel is not about violence. The Gospel is about living Abba’s love in my life every day. I do not need to contribute to the violence already happening. There has to be another way. We have a history of non-violence. Cesar Chavez: “The non-violent technique does not depend for its success on the goodwill of the oppressor, but rather on the unfailing assistance of God”. I need to make sure that in no way is violence a part of my life now, as it once was, and count on “the unfailing assistance of Abba”.
Very few of us are on the world stage, which means we are called upon to act where we are. Each of us has something to offer. When we are open to it, the Spirit teaches us how to live as Jesus’ disciples in our own circumstances, something Jesus asks us to do. We may have a need for “creative courage”, certainly for humility, and always for wonder. These jumbling thoughts offer me a focus for my prayer and thinking these days, especially the health issues which, whether I like it or not, are pretty prominent in my everyday living. Just sayin . . .