25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sunday, September 21, 2025

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092125.cfm

206. SERVING ONE MASTER (LK 16:1-13)

“Christian charity ought not to be content with not hating our enemies and loving them as brothers; it also demands that we treat them with kindness.”

- Pope Benedict XV

Luke 16:1-13

He also said to his disciples, ‘There was a rich man and he had a steward denounced to him for being wasteful with his property. He called for the man and said, What is this I hear about you? Draw me up an account of your stewardship because you are not to be my steward any longer. Then the steward said to himself, Now that my master is taking the stewardship from me, what am I to do? Dig? I am not strong enough. Go begging? I should be too ashamed. Ah, I know what I will do to make sure that when I am dismissed from

office there will be some to welcome me into their homes. Then he called his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, How much do you owe my master? One hundred measures of oil was the reply. The steward said, Here, take your bond; sit down straight away and write fifty. To another he said, And you, sir, how much do you owe? One hundred measures of wheat was the reply. The steward said, Here, take your bond and write eighty. The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.

‘And so I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of eternity. The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own? No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.’

CHRIST THE LORD “No servant can be the slave of two masters.” Jesus doesn’t give a third alternative; we have to serve someone. In another place he puts it like this: “He who does not gather with me scatters” (Luke 11:23). We cannot be morally neutral in life. If we live selfishly, we contribute to the culture of selfishness; we extend the kingdom of money and follow the lord of selfishness, Satan. If we live for Christ, on the other hand, we extend the Kingdom of justice and love, the eternal Kingdom. He doesn’t give us any alternative: either we follow a lord, or we follow the Lord.

At the same time, Jesus reminds us that our lives are extended through time; the Christian life consists in an ongoing series of decisions in which we reinforce or undermine our basic choice to follow Christ. How we use money (since it represents power – the ability to do and acquire things) can serve as a trustworthy thermometer of our commitment to Christ. If his Kingdom is our true priority, our checking account will show it, because we will put that power (money) at the service of the Kingdom as much as we can.

CHRIST THE TEACHER “For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.” We see that every day. The great men and women of the world, the CEOs, the athletes, the movie stars, the political leaders – many of them are exemplary in their tenacity, their determination, and their astuteness. They set a goal and let nothing stop them from achieving it. They turn everything into an opportunity to advance their cause. No sacrifice is too great. Imagine how different the Church (and the world) would be if every Catholic pursued holiness as energetically as most people pursue pleasure, honor, and wealth. Jesus is not rebuking us for striving after excellence in worldly pursuits, but he is rebuking us for not dedicating ourselves with equal conviction to advancing his Kingdom. After all, the former will pass away, but the latter will endure forever – so which is the better investment?

Jesus uses a curious image to instruct us about how to use money. First he says that money is “tainted” – but he doesn’t condemn it outright. It’s tainted because it is so easily abused

by fallen human nature. Then he tells us to use it to win friends, so that when money fails (the moment of death) those friends will welcome us into heaven. In other words, we should marshal our wealth to serve others, not to indulge ourselves. Certainly he doesn’t mean that a Christian should abstain from all the world’s pleasures and entertainments, butthose should be kept under control. The end goal of life is to reach heaven, not to fabricate it here on earth. Using money wisely means investing in the former, not the latter.

CHRIST THE FRIEND Jesus gives this advice so that his disciples might be welcomed into “tents of eternity.” The advice may be hard to follow, but the results are worth it.

Nothing Christ demands of us is gratuitous. God doesn’t make up rules just for fun. Every word of the Lord is spoken for our benefit, to guide us along the path of eternal life. Every teaching that the Church puts forward is meant to be a beacon of light in a dark and confused world. Unfortunately, we often ignore them as if they were arbitrary no-parking signs. Whenever Christ or the Church seems too demanding, all we need to do is look at a crucifix.

Christ gave everything for our sake, absolutely everything. We are his one love. He became a servant, a criminal, a victim, just for us. That means we can trust him without hesitation, even when he is demanding. He is the friend who will never fail.

CHRIST IN MY LIFE I am glad to be a citizen of your Kingdom, and to have received from you the call to help spread that Kingdom. I can’t imagine any other occupation in life that would be more worthwhile. Thank you, Lord. So please help me see all that I do – my normal responsibilities, my apostolic initiatives, my relationships – from this perspective:Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done...

Money is a tough topic, Lord. Everywhere I turn, I am being invited to spend it – and even to spend more than I have. I am part of this culture, Lord, this consumerist culture in which the highest priority is a robust economy. Teach me self-discipline and generosity, so I never fall prey to idols...

Once again you remind me of heaven, of the “tents of eternity.” You were always talking about that. O Lord, give me a foretaste of heaven, give me the wisdom that sees this earthly life from the proper perspective. Stir up in my heart a desire for that definitive encounter with you that will take place when my terrestrial pilgrimage reaches its fulfillment. Hallowed be thy name...

QUESTIONS FOR SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

1. What struck you most in this passage? What did you notice that you hadn’t noticed before?

2. Why do we tend to be more ingenious and proactive when it comes to worldly pursuits than when it comes to spiritual things?

3. What has helped you most in keeping your financial life as Christian as possible? What has hindered you? How can we know where to draw the line between responsibility and generosity?

4. We call ourselves Christians, followers of Christ. If someone were to follow us around for a day, what evidence would there be that this is truly the case? What evidence might they find that could the opposite – that we serve some other lord?

Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 50-67 and 2822-2827 on what God wants; 2850- 2854 on the Prince of this World; 2401-2418 on a Christian’s proper relationship to “mammon”