Let it never come to pass that “the children of this world are wiser than the children of light” (Luke 16:8); let it never be that the latter are less active than the former.–Pope Pius XII
Are you as zealous for the Word as the Worldly are zealous for money?
Today’s gospel is one of my favorites. It is that story that reflects a kind of guilty pleasure of learning of one who does something bad but we learn of it from the source of all good. So it is kind of a dark pleasure that we have permission to enjoy. Kind of like or going your diet and eating Lindt candies on Christmas.
It reminds me of one of my favorite short stories, A Stranger on a Train by Saki. Written over one hundred years ago, it is the story of a man who is in a train compartment with an aunt and several of her young nephews and nieces. She to entertain them tells them a boring story with a good moral of a good girl who is quickly saved from danger by the townspeople. The stranger then tells a story of a good girl who is so good she receives a wonderful reward, but accidentally because of her reward, that was because she was good, she is eaten by a wolf.
The aunt complains to the man that it was a most improper story, to which he replies that his intention was to keep the children quiet for ten minutes which he did but she could not.
How cunning are you? What motivates you? Are you more cunning than the most intense mogul in Hollywood? Are you a better trickster than the worst political trickster, who by the way was probably my cousin?
Are you as zealous for the Word as the worldly are zealous for fame and money? Or are you just going along for the ride?
This is the question that Jesus puts to us.
He admires the cunning action of the unjust steward and though he does not ask us to imitate him, he does point out how much better the world would be if we were as zealous for the faith as the steward is for survival.
Let me give you an example, my cousin used to dress up as a priest and visit the Irish Catholic houses of South Boston looking for his dear friend a former mayor of Boston. The campaigning mayor was no where around and my cousin was no priest, but it was trick to get people to remember that good Irish Catholic mayor, whose name I won’t mention, but if you know Boston history, it won’t take much to know who I am talking about.
See what effort centered around getting this man elected. How much effort are we doing to bring people to Christ?
Are you as zealous for the Word as the Worldly are zealous for their treasure?
You have heard of three card monte?
It is that game that is used to bilk people of their money. I saw a man lose sixty dollars in the game in a matter of minutes and if you look it up on the internet, you will see that it is impossible to win at three card monte.
Look how much time and effort people put in bilking others out of their money. But it is not matched by those who have a calling to lead others to Christ. I have done in the past and have tried to get others to join my lately to no avail, a similar form of playacting as which goes with Three Card Monte, but in this one the shill plays someone who asks another who is obviously Christian, maybe he is carrying a Bible or maybe he is a priest and starts asking him questions loud enough for others to hear, but not so loud that it appears staged of why should someone become Catholic, or believe in God or whatever.
It is a shell game for Christ, but it is not happening and we can make it happen.
Are you as zealous for the Word as the Worldly are zealous for money?
Advertising men come up with all kinds of slogans to get you to remember their product, have you ever put together a slogan to lead others to Church.
Some I have created are “We are open Sundays.” “Jesus is greater than sliced bread.”
What kind of humorous words can you use to remind others that Christ is available on Sundays.
In the words of Pope Pius XII: “Let it never come to pass that “the children of this world are wiser than the children of light” (Luke 16:8); let it never be that the latter are less active than the former”.
Are you as zealous for the Word as the Worldly are zealous for money? Or has it come to pass that “the children of this world are wiser than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). If we have let that happen, then we deserve the fruit of our lack of labor. Have we?
God bless you,
Fr. Robert J Carr