Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Who doesn’t know someone who wants to keep the money he has and make more as well? A mirror may give the answer. So, I don’t have to reflect long on the parable Jesus gives in today’s Gospel to catch the meaning.
There’s nothing wrong with keeping one’s wallet zipped or to have plans on how to stuff it more. Money is needed to realize life’s essentials. It is a means to attain a good end that will bring me lasting happiness, not satisfaction that comes from indulging in egotistical power or sensual gratification. That’s “mammon”. And Jesus concludes, “You cannot serve both God and mammon.”
So, money is a good thing, a blessing from Almighty God. If used properly, it will help others in their pursuit to find God as well, to serve him and to love him. It can be the way to put into effect what Jesus taught. “Whatever you do to another, you do to me.” Paul tells Timothy in the 2nd reading of today’s mass that it is prayer that enables me the grace to make prudent choices in dealing with God and mammon.
Resolve: I will prayerfully examine myself today on how I have used the gifts God has given me - talents, strengths, money – and if I have used them as “mammon” or as means to glorify him. Then I shall ask the Blessed Virgin to help me see how my gifts will bring me closer to Jesus and others today and give me the vision to detect mammon hiding to entrap me in all that I do.