St. Joseph of the Lakes

In the first reading the prophet Amos aims a sharp attack against the business people of his time: “Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land!  "When will the new moon be over," you ask, "that we may sell our grain, and the Sabbath, that we may display the wheat? We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating! We will buy the lowly for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals; even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!" He tells them that God will never forget a thing they have done to the poor and the needy. 

Jesus takes a very different approach as he encourages the business people of his day.  He tells them and us the very odd story of a steward who cheats his master in order to create friendships that will benefit him when he loses his job.  Jesus says that even the master commends the steward for his masterful work of cheating him by helping his debtors. Then Jesus gives us his advice that we make use of the wealth we have to be welcomed into eternal dwellings. I like to imagine that when we come to the doors of heaven there will be a large crowd of those who have already made it into heaven.  Jesus has previously told us who will be in that crowd; it will be Lazarus who starved just beyond the rich man’s table; it will be the poor and the needy that have been promised their place even as they suffered here on earth.    How will they greet any of us?  Will they welcome us and say “I am glad you’re here because you fed me when I was hungry and you clothed me when I was naked” or will they turn their backs and say “I do not know you!”  We are all stewards of the great master.  He is giving us our share in his goodness so that we may also help that goodness go beyond ourselves.