The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friends,

God is our Master, and we are His unworthy servants. Through deliberate sin or carelessness, we have squandered and wasted many of the good things that God has entrusted to us. At the end of our lives here on earth, we will all be called upon to give an account of our stewardship. We are to learn prudence from the parable that Jesus gave us in today's Gospel.

The steward was prudent in the fact that he considered his future. What would happen to him when his stewardship was taken away? The children of this world are very wise in their ways. They consider and prepare for their future here on earth. In this, they are wiser than the children of God, who do not concern themselves with their spiritual future. The prudent thing for us to frequently consider is: "What will happen to my soul when I leave this world? When my stewardship is taken away from me?" The time for good works will have passed. (To dig, I am unable.)

God has given every one of us an abundance of something. We all have a talent or possession that is more than we need for our own uses. If we hoard them or refuse to give aid to others we offend God. God's desire for us is that as His stewards we distribute His gifts to others. Whatever we do for the least of His brethren we do for Him. What we have is not ours, but rather belongs to God and is only entrusted to us to be employed according to His Will.

We have nothing of ourselves. All that we have and all that we are belongs to God. If we are prudent we ask ourselves what God's Will is for all that He has entrusted to us. What is God's Will for the monetary income that I may receive? What is God's Will for the talents or gifts that He has entrusted to me? What would He have me do with the talents He has given me? Even our very lives belong to Him, and we should seek to know how He wills us to live on this earth.

A steward represents his master, and we must represent God. Our very lives and all that we do should reflect to others that we are His servants. All the good that others receive through us, we must humbly acknowledge that it is not from us, but from God. We must strive to live every moment of our lives as His faithful stewards. We should strive to imitate Jesus when He was found in the Temple by His parents — doing our Father's business.

We are truly unworthy stewards when we steal from our Master through pride and take credit for the good that He has given us. We are unworthy stewards when we hoard His gifts and talents for ourselves when He desires that we should distribute them to others.

Every sin of the steward is more than just a shame and disgrace for the steward, it is an insult and affront to the Master Whom the steward represents. The steward's purpose is to advance the Will of his Master, not his own. It is the Will of God to draw all men to Himself. It is, therefore, our job as His stewards to do all that we can to bring souls to Him. We do this through true charity (love). We must strive to love all that God loves. He loves souls and desires that they should come to Him. We must strive to lead souls to Him. We do not have to necessarily preach by words, but we must preach by our life and our actions. Through a virtuous life, we should strive to lead others to Him.

In lessening other's debts to God, we entice them to love Him more. We are taking from God's treasure, but it is His desire that we do this. In giving aid to anyone, we must strive to remain humble or even hidden, so that everyone understands that their only true benefactor is God. The most that we can claim for ourselves is to be unworthy instruments in His Hands. All honor and glory belong to Him.

In doing His Will, remaining humble and offering what help we can to our fellow men (both material and spiritual) we exercise our love for God and our fellow men. The limitations of our humanity gradually become replaced with the goodness of God. We become truly wise and prudent as we replace our own lives with that of Jesus Christ, as St. Paul says: "It is no longer I, but Jesus Christ living in me." This is the lesson of today's parable as well as of the entire Gospel. May we prudently consider this idea with the fervent desire to implement it in our very lives here and now, so that we may find ourselves immersed in and doing the Will of God when He calls us to give an account of our stewardship.

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