By Bishop Bernard Paul
Amos 8:4-7
Psalm 112(113):1-2,4-8
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 16:1-13
Theme:
We declare You Master of our lives
A British tycoon passed away leaving his widow £1billion in the bank. The widow remarried one of her husband’s young employees. The young employee said, “All these while, I thought that I was working for my boss. Now I realise that my boss was all the time working for me.”
My dear friends, all of us work, all of us serve. For whom are we working? Are we working for ourselves? Are we working for our ego? Are we working for our bosses? Or are we working, like in the Communist countries or Socialist countries, the state they say or the Government. Some of us may even say we are working for God. Good.
But why do we work? What are the reasons for us for working? And there are countless reasons given why people need to work or want to work, among them to be occupied, some said. To avoid boredom, to have a better life, to survive and of course, eventually some will say to live our call and mission.
But our work or service sometimes pleases God, sometimes it displeases God. Not everything God approves. Not everything God says you are okay. Don’t use my name in vain. Sometimes we say we are doing this in God’s name. But it displeases God.
And that is why today we find that on one side we have those who displease God and those who please God. And we displease God when we submit or subscribe to three kinds of cheating:-
- Cheating the poor;
- Cheating on our jobs;
- Cheating God.
All these are cheatings and these three cheatings are not approved by God.
First, when we cheat and trample or suppress the poor and needy as Amos says, we are very good people, doing very well in live. The economy was good. We are dressed to kill. There are plenty. Sometimes he used the word ‘cows of Bashan‘. Amos will use that word and yet what happens? You find that there they are trampling the poor, the needy, shortchanging them, depriving of the little that they have and this will definitely be despised by God. We displease God when we cheat the poor.
We displease God when we cheat on the job. ‘How?’ we may ask. When we abuse our position, when we cut corners, when we are unethical in our dealings, when we practice double standards and at the same time mediocrity. See God wants us to excel. God wants the best to come forth from us. Sometimes we say in the name of God we are doing this but are we giving the best? There is a certain element of mediocrity in what we do. Sometimes we give better outside than we give in the church.
I’ve seen it in my own life, where you find that people out there they excel, they give the best but when they come into the church, they give trash. That is unacceptable to God and we have to practice that – giving God the best. Be excellent in what we do and able to excel in what we give to God and what we become.
The third thing is we cheat God because God is the Master and the Employer. In today’s parable you see he is the landowner and the people who were there are described as the workers, the stewards, caretakers and so forth.
In general, we are given the image where we are. Whatever we do, whatever we truly own, we are only but caretakers. You know, sometimes people say we have this, we have collected this, we have owned this and we own that, how much land, how many properties, how many millions in the bank and so forth. Finally, when we die, we only own one thing, the 7 feet x 4 feet. That little grave is what you have. That is all that is in your name. Everything else goes to others. See? So all the toil, all the sweating is for what?
Finally, what is our entitlement when we die? A 7 feet x 4 feet hole. That is all.
And that is why we find that we must recognise our position before God. God is the Master. God is our Employer. And when we live, we live for the Lord. When we work, we work for the Lord. When we serve, we serve for the Lord. And when we give our best, we give to the Lord. And that is why people say, one spiritual write, very boldly say:-
What we receive is God’s gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.
And that is our greatest challenge. All of us is called to be a gift to God. And that only happens when we become more than who we are. When we go beyond ourself and we begin to get the best out of us and that is when God says:-
Good and faithful servant.
That is how much God expects from us. He plants us here so that we bloom. So you see there is, and here as we move on, what displeases God to one side, what are the things that pleases God, that is also lined up very beautifully in today’s scriptures.
It is asking us when we are astute, clever in not only winning friends, winning a place in heaven, securing our future. You see we are called to be astute, be sharp in things. Smart in things. Sometimes we find that we are very, people outside are more cunning and more determined, whereas in church people are more ‘lembik’, too soft. We find that we have excuses for everything. But we find that God is pleased when He sees that we are smart as people out there but now, our smartness are being used to win friends for the Lord, extend the kingdom of God as well as also to secure our future.
Our future, we cannot win our future, we cannot go to God on merits but we keep on fighting the good fight, running the good race.
Grace saves us, not merits, not our efforts but yet we have to work our salvation on earth. And that is our call. We don’t wait passively but we live actively. That is the greatest challenge for all Christians today, to be the spark in the world, making a difference. And we find that when we are faithful in the little things, it pleases God also. When we are focus on our service, we are not divided, we are not split, we don’t serve two masters, we don’t compromise, we work faithfully. We find that that also pleases God.
And now, the way we use money also, we can displease God or we can please God. That is when we use the money that we have, money is a necessity. It is only the love of money is the root of all evil. Money is not evil. Money is a necessity. It is a way to live, yes. But when we use our money for common good so that others also benefit, others are also blessed. We bless one another with what we have, with the wealth that we have, when we use the wealth to glorify God, then that pleases God.
Finally you find that in the Gospel also the importance of accountability. Not abusing, not wasting but be accountable for what is in our hands. Knowing how to spend well, at the same time how to share it also, generously. You see, for God, whether we work or serve, whether we are in the church or beyond the church walls, we are reminded that only good stewards please God. Only good stewards please God.
And we find that our call, when you talk about stewardship, it means to be a watchdog. It means to be a monitor. It means we are caretakers, not of church affairs alone. It is the way we use wealth. Caretaker of wealth. Caretaker of pleasure. Pleasure is part of our life. How we care, how do we take care of it. Do we indulge/overindulge? We are caretakers of knowledge, good knowledge and bad knowledge. Businesses. These are all areas of life, you know. These are all part of our life. When we talk about wealth, it is a part of our life. Pleasure is a part of our life. Knowledge is a part of our life. Sciences, businesses, religion, politics – they are all part of our life. And we have to be caretakers. We have to be a watchdog. Christian way of looking at things. We cannot just close our eyes and say that’s not our business.
So it is not being Christian inside the church alone. It is being Christian in the world. And that is the greatest challenge. All these are areas of life that we must participating in. It is the business. How is the Government using the money? How are the private sector enriching themselves? Are you caring for the poor? All these are questions that we need to ask.
Therefore, you see when God puts us here, He expects us to do part of His job – to make sure that this world becomes a better world. That you make a difference in people’s life. You make the new heaven and new earth come today, not for tomorrow, not after we are dead. Our earth must become a new earth, a new heaven, a new Jerusalem as the Book of Revelations talks about.
So you see maybe some of us are saying how can this be? I am only one person. Believe in the Power of One. I always believe in the Power of One. One person can still make a difference, provided you stand up, step out. You make a difference.
And you find that we are not alone, you know. Ya you say God is with us but God has also provided the means for us. We call it the three inbuilt power pack. He has provided the three inbuilt power packs. Some have all the three, some have at least one.
But whatever it is, let us see the first inbuilt power pack, it is the sense of the covenant. Deep inside all of us we believe that we are God’s people and God is our Father. I am your God, you are my people. That sense is very deep in many people. It is a sense where we feel responsible for your brother and your sister. And that is why people with this kind of a sensing will say the sense of he ain’t heavy he’s my brother, she ain’t heavy she’s my sister.
That kind of an attitude is present in many people. That is called a sense of the covenant. And not only that, to Love God to Love Neighbour is also a covenantal word. And when Jesus said “If you love me, feed my sheep, feed my lambs.” Then He went further to say when you did it to the least of your brothers, you did it to me. These are all powerful covenantal words and that rings inside us, it drives us to do what we are doing. That is the first power pack.
The second power pack I call it the 3G pack not 5G. We can talk about the 5G but I prefer the 3G. What is the 3G? God has put into all of us this 3G. It is called:-
Grace, Goodness, Good Works.
What is Grace? The Spirit within us. The Spirit of Goodness that is in us. The Grace is there and the Goodness is also there. None of us are bad. We allow the bad and the wicked to flow, the darkness to come out. But deep inside all of us, there is Goodness, original Goodness they say. That is why when God created us, He said it is good. They are good. All of us are born good. It is there deep inside you. The Goodness is there. And all of us are capable of Good Works. The Good Works is inside you. Let the Goodness come out. And this is the 3G power pack that is in all of us, if only we can connect with it and say:-
The Grace of God is in me, the Goodness is in me, the Good Works is in me. Let it flow.
My God, we will make a difference. We will make a difference, people will recognise there is something here and God is present here.
And the last power pack. We talk about the CSR. We talk about Corporate Social Responsibility. But all of us have also the CSR – Catholic Social Responsibility. And what is the Catholic Social Responsibility? Three Ps:-
- We are called to provide for the poor and needy.
- We are called to protect the weak and the powerless
- We are called to preserve what is good and right.
That is our call. That is what it means to be a watchdog – provide for the poor and the needy. When you are well, don’t be like the rich man watching Lazarus dying of starvation outside there. It is our responsibility to share. Being rich is not wrong. It is when I don’t share my wealth and my richness, that is where it is wrong. When I see someone else suffering and I just ‘buat tak tau’ that is where it goes wrong.
So you see provide for the poor and the needy, protect the weak and the powerless, preserve what is good and right. That is our calling. That is what it means to be a Catholic, to have Catholic Social Responsibility.
So my dear friends, today all of us are, don’t say we don’t have anything to give, we have something to give and that is what God wants from you. Be aware of the inbuilt power packs that we have within us. We are not alone because God has equipped us to live this life, to be a good steward.
So let us pray for that grace during this Mass. In all things, whether you are a husband and a wife, whether you are a father or a mother, whether you are outside or inside, whether you are doing church service or some other NGO work, whatever you are doing, put one thing extra there. Bring God into the picture. Bring prayer into the picture and thereby at the same time always remind yourself that:-
I am called to be a good steward. To give the best because I have this 3 inbuilt power packs.
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