And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.
For the children of this world
are more prudent in dealing with their own generation
than the children of light.
When his livelihood was on the line the steward was willing to let go of that which was only in his charge temporarily, the debt that others owed to his master. If his position was secure he wouldn't want to diminish that debt for he himself might have gone on to squander it when it had finally been repaid. But since he had been found out and his time in that position was at an end it made sense from an earthly point of view to put the debt to a use that would outlast his ill-fated stewardship.
I know what I shall do so that,
when I am removed from the stewardship,
they may welcome me into their homes.’
The steward was not a great role model in the sense that we ought not to imitate him by cheating our employers of that which they entrust to us. Nevertheless, we too have the ability to use those things which are temporary, our gifts and blessings in this world, for the sake of those things that are eternal. When we give to the poor or donate to campaigns of evangelization, for instance, we are potentially making friends who will outlast this life. They will speak up for us even when our own stewardship is accounted to be lacking, and their prayers and sacrifices can help make up for our own insufficiency.
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins (see First Peter 4:8).
In addition to talents and treasures, we can use the limited and finite resource of our time to make friends who will welcome us into the mansions that are their final spiritual homes. We can, for example, pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. This brings us into a real relationship with them and ingratiates us to them such that when their purification is complete and they come before the throne they themselves will reciprocate our love by praying us through our own purification in this life, in Purgatory, and finally into the Kingdom. They will join our other loved ones to welcome us home when we finally pass through the gates of that heavenly city.
And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.
Most of us don't have the right sense for what is eternal and what is only temporary. We insist on keeping the promissory notes set to a fixed amount because we hope to enjoy forever that which can only be temporary. Let us pray for the grace of revelation to help us understand how short even the longest lives are when compared to eternity. May that revelation inspire a prudence and even an urgency to the way we dispose those things with which our Lord has entrusted us on this earth.
We are called to remember that nothing that we have is ultimately our own but is rather on loan to us from God himself. He will demand an account if we use it for our own selfish ends. But he himself will work through us when we use it for the sake of others, for "the priestly service of the Gospel of God". Much more than for the dishonest steward, our efforts will be effective because they will coincide with the intentions of the master himself, and he will elevate and empower them. It may feel foolish, seen from the perspective of this world only, to invest so completely in the Kingdom. But the Holy Spirit is already our first installment, testifying to the fact that we are living in line with a higher wisdom. That investment, that wisdom will not disappoint us.
For I will not dare to speak of anything
except what Christ has accomplished through me
to lead the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed,
by the power of signs and wonders,
by the power of the Spirit of God,
so that from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum
I have finished preaching the Gospel of Christ.
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