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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said,

“No slave can serve two masters;

for a slave will either hate the one and love the other,

or be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and wealth.”

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– Luke 16:13 (NRSV)

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REFLECTION…

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In the culture of Jesus’ time “service” involved such commitment to one’s master

that a servant could not take on any other work or serve any other master.

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The Pharisees jeered at what Jesus was saying,

because they wanted to justify their own attachment to material things; to wealth.

Sometimes people make fun of total commitment to God and detachment from material things

because they themselves are not ready to practice virtue;

and they cannot even imagine other people doing so.

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Am I totally committed to God?

Do I place Him as absolute first and totally above anything and anyone else?

Do I place Him as absolute first in every situation?

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QUOTE…

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“Like all idols, money is deceitful and lying:

it promises security and instead takes it away;

it promises freedom and instead destroys it.

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How many times these days have we had to think back again

to the cry Jesus addressed to the rich man who, in the parable, had stored up endless riches and thought he was secure for the rest of his life:

“Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”! (Lk 12:20)”

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– Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa.

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REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

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Jesus, grant me the gifts of discernment and self-control;

increase my faith, O Lord, so that I will always and only serve You!

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