Since we are travellers and pilgrims in the world, let us ever ponder on the end of the road, that is of our life, for the end of our roadway is our home (St Columban, 8th sermon).
19 September 2025
Sunday Reflections, 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, 21 September 2025
I mention two diamond rings below. I couldn't find a painting with a diamond ring but Vermeer'sGirl with a Pearl Earringis a work of such extraordinary beauty that I used it instead.
Readings(Jerusalem
Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)
Readings(English
Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, India, Scotland)
GospelLuke 16:1-13 (English Standard
Version, Anglicised)
At that time:
Jesus said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and
charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he
called him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the
account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.” And the manager
said to himself, “What shall I do, since my master is taking the management
away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have
decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may
receive me into their houses.” So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one,
he said to the first, “How much do you owe my master?” He said, “A hundred measures
of oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write
fifty.” Then he said to another, “And how much do you owe?” He said, “A hundred
measures of wheat.” He said to him, “Take your bill and write eighty.” The
master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this
world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of
light.’ And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous
wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
‘One who is
faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in
a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful
with the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if
you have not been faithful with that which is another’s, who will give you that
which is your own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate
the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and money.’
One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.
Twelve years ago while on vacation in Ireland from the Philippines I dropped by the house of Brian, a childhood friend in Dublin. Over coffee we chatted about many things, ranging from the situation of the Church in Ireland to the days when we were growing up.
In the course of our conversation the small Jewish community in Dublin came up. It has never quite reached 4,000 in Ireland and the majority of the now fewer than 2,000 live in Dublin. I told Brian that my father, who spent all his working life as a carpenter on building/construction sites, most of those years as a highly respected general foreman, had built a house for a wealthy Jewish couple in the late 1950s.
Our house was the one on the right, 44 Finn St, Dublin
Shortly after the house was finished a very expensive car stopped outside our house, in a street of terraced houses, where nobody had a telephone and very few had cars. The driver was the owner of the new house my father had built. He had come to invite our family to dinner the following week in his new home. My father had helped build many new homes over the 54 years of his working life but this was the only occasion when he had been thanked in such a way.
We enjoyed the gracious hospitality of the family and it was the only time I ever visited a Jewish home in Ireland.
Brian then told me a story about his father Jimmy, whom I had known well, a house painter and decorator. He had painted and decorated the houses of many Jewish families in Dublin over the years. This was mainly due to an incident the first time he was asked to work in a Jewish home. While removing the carpet from the stairs he found a diamond ring stuck in a corner. He immediately brought it to the owner and said 'I found this on the stairs'. 'I know', said the owner, 'I put it there!'
The word spread through the Jewish community that Jimmy was trustworthy. Over the years he had many Jewish clients.
One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.
When I told the story of Jimmy and the diamond ring to my sister-in-law Gladys she told me that her engagement ring had been stolen while she and my brother Paddy were having renovations done to their home a few years ago.
I remember too how upset my father was when he was renovating a Georgian house in Dublin. He discovered that the knocker on the front door had disappeared and it could only have been one of his workmates who took it. He was unable to trace the knocker or find out who the thief was.
One who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
When I wrote these reflections twelve years ago the major story in the Philippines was the 'pork barrel scam'. PHP10 billion - roughly US$200,000,000 or €200,000,000 - of taxes paid by the people had disappeared. Some senators and members of Congress were alleged to have been beneficiaries of this along with others. As I prepare this in 2025 the headlines about corruption are still the same.
Today's gospel speaks to situations like this. Corruption on such a vast scale begins in the classroom when a child learns that though cheating isn't right the main thing is not to be caught. The man who stole my sister-in-law's engagement ring and my father's workmate who walked away with the valuable knocker from the front door of the Georgian house were earning salaries. What values were they passing on to their families?
One thing that both my parents instilled in me was that I must not keep anything that isn't mine. When I was a toddler I came home from a park up the road from where we lived at the time with a leather football. This was in the mid-1940s, around the time World War II ended when such things would have been very scarce and expensive. They asked around the neighbourhood and it was only when nobody claimed the ball that our family kept it.
Honesty and trustworthiness at such basic levels are a foundation for justice. I've known of individuals 'working for justice' who weren't paying their own workers a proper wage. I've known many others such as my father, such as Jimmy, who didn't talk much about justice. They simply behaved in a just and honest manner and treated others with respect.
God invites every single one of us to share for ever in the riches of eternal life. Eternal life begins in the here and now. We make our choices in the here and now.
No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Antiphona ad Communionem / Communion Antiphon (John 10:14)
Ego sum pastor bonus, dicit Dóminus;
et cognósco oves meas, et cognóscunt me meae.
I am the Good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me.
Prayer Request
Please pray for a young girl named
Annie who lives in England. She is having brain surgery on Friday 26 September.
Thank you.
Traditional Latin Mass
What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful (Benedict XVI).
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 09-21-2025 if necessary).
Epistle: Galatians 3:25 - 6:10. Gospel: Luke 11:7-16.
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