Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time/C
Massimo Palombella
In today’s Gospel (Lk 16:1-13) Jesus tells the curious story of the dishonest steward who was praised by his master because he acted shrewdly. I think that the administrator’s having acted with “shrewdness” lies in the fact that in order to get out of the uncomfortable situation, he involved other persons. In essence, the administrator realised that he could not save himself, but needed others.
Whenever we illude ourselves that we are happy on our own, that we can realise our life without connections with others, without confrontation, we basically build ourselves a sort of ‘bubble’ that protects us from reality and that, in some way, works as an anaesthetic.
The true God awaits us in reality, in continuous existential and professional confrontation, in a relationship with Him that, to be authentic, needs to include the persons around us, our roots, uncomfortable situations, destabilising relationships.
Our relationship with the true God – not with that god we invent to make ourselves feel good – can only be inclusive of everything, a relationship that challenges us and leads us to the truth of us.
The Gradual for today’s celebration is taken from Psalm 112 (Ps 112:5, 6, 7) with the following text:
Quis sicut Dominus Deus noster, qui in altis habitat:
humilia respicit in caelo et in terra?
Suscitans a terra inopem, et de stercore erigens pauperem.
(Who is like the Lord our God who dwells on high
and looks down on that which is humble in heaven and on earth?
He raises the needy from the earth and lifts up the poor out of the mire).
The attached music, in Gregorian chant, is taken from the Graduale Triplex published in Solesmes in 1979. The interpretation is by the Mönchsschola der Erzabtei St. Ottilien directed by Johannes Berchmans Göschl. The music track can be found on the CD ‘Gregorian Chants’ published by Profil in 2014.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
