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Institute for Homiletics

A Collaboration of The Catholic Foundation and the University of Dallas

Rev. James A. Wallace, C.Ss.R.

The Bottom Line

The word “mammon” is Aramaic and means property, not only money, but also any possession. More than twenty-five years ago, Fr. John Haughey, S.J. wrote a thoughtful book entitled The Holy Use of Money: Personal Finances in the Light of the  Christian Faith. He described the condition of “mammon sickness” as having three interrelated aspects: running after things, a numbness in our relationships, and a divided consciousness regarding God. 

Today’s readings invite us to take our spiritual temperatures to see if we are  suffering from a low-grade, or even a more severe, case of “mammon sickness.”  The prophet Amos rails not simply against dishonest business practices in buying and selling, but more importantly how pursuing wealth can diminish honoring  God on the Sabbath and lead to “trampling upon the needy and destroying the  poor of the land.” The prophetic voice shouts out to proclaim God’s love and care for the poor; wealth can exclude such love and care from our daily lives. 

The parable Jesus tells and the sayings that follow call for more consideration than space allows, but note that the master’s seeming admiration is for his steward’s “prudence” or “shrewdness” in using money to make friends. Jesus then contrasts how the children of this world deal with their own kind more astutely than the children of the light. Succinctly put, use mammon to help others. There can be a holy use of money, to care for those most in need, thereby giving glory to God. 

Consider/Discuss

  • Do you see mammon/money as seducer or sacrament? 
  • God or mammon—whom do you serve? How do you know? 

Responding to the Word

God of justice, you are our true wealth and you have entrusted us with the goods of all creation. May we use them wisely and work to see that all have a just share in them. Form us into just and generous stewards, modeled after the image of your Son.

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God Is Always ISO (In Search Of)

The interaction today between Moses and God serves more as a contrast than a parallel with today’s Gospel. When God informs Moses of plans to start over again with Moses alone, and to let his wrath “blaze up against” the people for worshiping a golden calf, Moses has to remind God of the covenant’s promises.  God does relent. In contrast, Jesus embodies the mercy of God, who sent Jesus for our salvation. 

Jesus was sent to search out the one sheep who wandered off, to turn the house upside down to recover the misplaced coin, and to welcome back that deliberately lost son, allowing him the time to “come to his senses” and the freedom to choose to return home. Jesus is not the placating voice, tamping down  God’s fiery anger, but the Father’s obedient Son, doing the Father’s will by reaching out with mercy and compassion. As Paul writes, Christ came into the world to save sinners. We put our trust in this. 

We can see ourselves in any of these roles: one who wanders off, or becomes accidentally lost, or deliberately goes away—all of which leads to our being in a place we don’t belong, sometimes in a condition we are ashamed of. We can even be the one who doesn’t go off physically but whose heart is far from the  Father, living our lives in bitterness, anger, resentment, or a refusal to forgive.  Christ tells us his Father can’t wait for us to end up back where we belong—in our Father’s embrace. 

Consider/Discuss

  • Do you need to be reminded of the Father’s great love for us all?
  • Does God need you to seek out someone who has wandered off, or even gotten deliberately lost? 

Responding to the Word

Forgiving God, we join St. Paul in saying thank you for giving us Christ as a source of strength. May the words of Christ continue to move our hearts into knowing and trusting your love more deeply. Thank you for giving us a place at your table. To you be honor and glory.

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The Cost of a Re-Newed World

Does Jesus really mean this? Hate my parents? My siblings? My spouse and children? Hate myself and spend my life carrying “my cross”? “Give up all possessions”? Is this another example of Jesus’ hyperbole, like when he said, “If your hand offends, you, cut it off. If your eye leads you to sin, pluck it out”? What are we getting ourselves into, if we follow Jesus? 

We are getting into the most radical commitment of our lives—to accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. We are committing to him and his mission to bring new life to the world, and to bring all our relationships into our life in him. We commit to work at having that mind in us that was in Christ Jesus. 

We are getting ourselves into bringing about a re-newed world, where a  new sense of family moves us beyond blood ties, a new sense of self takes us  beyond personal fulfillment, a new sense of relationship to possessions carries  us beyond “shop, shop, shop.” 

Paul was inviting Philemon to enter into this new world. Philemon’s slave,  Onesimus, his “property,” had run away, a capital offense, punishable even by death. Paul asks the slave owner to take back the slave as a brother in Christ. One wonders what a different world we might have if this short letter (only twenty-five verses) had been read, preached, and heard yearly over the centuries. 

So count the cost, know what’s at stake, and commit this day to Christ the Lord. 

Consider/Discuss

  • What tower are you building? What battle are you willing to engage in for the sake of the kingdom of God? 
  • Do you love and trust Jesus enough to follow him daily? 

Responding to the Word

All-wise and all-knowing God, give us a share in your wisdom and the courage to commit to building up your kingdom in our world. Give us the strength to fight against all that is evil and destructive of your creation. Send your Spirit that we might live more fully in Christ.

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Good Advice or Good News?

Sirach’s call to act with humility in our affairs connects nicely with Jesus’ words to take the last place rather than the place of honor in the dining room. Humility scores more points with others than presumption or pride, even with God. But  Jesus is offering more than good advice. 

Keep in mind that Jesus was at dinner with Pharisees and lawyers, and that he has just finished healing a man with dropsy who was right in front of him, and it was the Sabbath. Jesus could never seem to stop working on the Sabbath, even  in front of people “observing him carefully.” 

Jesus then tells them a parable, that is, a story with a punch, one that upends the expectations of the listeners. Jesus is proclaiming how things are to be in the kingdom of God—and for those who work to bring about God’s kingdom come about even now. In the Kingdom, the last will be first; in the Kingdom, the least will be honored and feted; in the Kingdom, generosity will replace entitlement. 

God’s plan is not to duplicate Mt. Sinai with its gloomy darkness and fearful words, but God’s dinner parties will take place on Mt. Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, with angels in festal gathering, and the chosen all shining and joyful.  Those in attendance will know they are there because of the blood of the Lamb that won them mercy before the throne of God. We prepare for this by showing generosity now. 

Consider/Discuss

  • Can you hear good news in today’s Gospel, how living in the kingdom can start even now? 
  • How does today’s Gospel shed light on what Sunday Mass is about? 

Responding to the Word

Generous God, you have invited us to the table of the Word and the table of the Eucharist, where we are nourished and where we learn what it means to live as children of the Kingdom. Thank you for this generous gift. May it continue to shape our lives.

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Discipline, Not Entitlement

The first image is found in Hebrews. No talk of being father’s “little darling” or mother’s “favorite pet” here. We get a comparison of God as a father who disciplines his child, even “scourges” every son he acknowledges. Now that certainly is a tough image to take, especially in a culture so attuned to the horrors of child abuse. But the time of the Letter to the Hebrews was a different culture, subscribing to the old adage “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” What is important is the notion of discipline. So let’s set the scourge aside and take up the issue of discipline—the discipline necessary to run a race, to “strengthen your drooping hands  and your weak knees, (to) make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may  not be disjointed but healed.” Healing what is weak is the goal of this discipline. 

The second image is Jesus as the gatekeeper who is telling us that the gate into the kingdom is a narrow one, so strive (there’s that note of discipline, again)  to enter it. Jesus isn’t into numbers and doesn’t answer the question asked. He simply urges us to be strong enough to get through the gate. And any claims of  “You knew me years ago, Jesus” or “You knew my mother and grandmother” won’t matter. Furthermore, prepare to be surprised when you see at who is getting through the gate into the kingdom. 

The bottom line today: Strive, discipline yourself—feeling entitled won’t get you in.  

Consider/Discuss

  • Is discipline necessary in your life? What kind? 
  • What is the key to getting through the “narrow gate”? 

Responding to the Word

Lord, teach us what we need to know to run the race, to gain entry through the narrow gate, to reach your kingdom. May we realize that you have called us to work with you to bring about the kingdom in our world. Give us the dedication to persevere in this goal.

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