Daily Gospel Reflection
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September 22, 2019
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 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.”
As a child, I knew I had committed some sort of wrongdoing whenever my parents would summon me to the living room by my full – first, middle, and last – name. In those moments I knew I had to begin thinking of a quick defense strategy!
Of course, being held accountable for our decisions extends well beyond childhood. Throughout our lives, we will be called to answer for various actions and choices we have made.
In the parable found in today’ Gospel, the dishonest manager must give an account of his misdeeds to the master. Realizing that his livelihood is in jeopardy, the manager conducts shrewd business transactions in order to gain favor with both his master and the master’s debtors.
I think this parable invites us to consider how we, as disciples, respond to the challenge of offering a daily account of our lives to Jesus the Master. Like the dishonest manager in the parable, we, too, have fallen short of the mission entrusted to us by the Lord.
Fortunately for all of us, God gives endless opportunities to amend and adjust our waywardness. Unlike the manager in the parable, we do not rely solely on our own shrewdness or cunning. Instead, we joyfully recognize our need for God!
We collaborate with the Lord so that we may become the best version of ourselves. We grow as disciples whenever we seek conversion from our sins, open ourselves to God’s graces in the sacraments, and live out the virtues of faith, hope, and charity.
As the Lord calls each of us to give an account of our lives as disciples, will we be prudent enough to reconcile our ways and seek authentic transformation?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, may we be more prudent and wise than the dishonest steward, and use the many gifts and talents you have blessed us with to serve generously those in need and to build up your body, the Church, so that all may know the abundance of your love. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Sts. Maurice, Exuperius, and Candidus were leaders of a legion of Christians in the Roman army who were killed for their Christian leadership and complete allegiance to Christ.
Around the year 287, the Roman army marched out to suppress a revolt in what is now Switzerland. The emperor, Maximian, led the army, which was composed of troops conscripted from various parts of the empire. One legion of 6,600 soldiers was recruited from northern Egypt and was composed entirely of Christians.
When the Roman legions arrived on the battlefield, Maximian ordered all soldiers to offer sacrifice to the gods for the success of the enterprise. The Christian legion withdrew from the army and refused to participate in the rites.
Several times, Maximian ordered them to obey. They refused, and he ordered that the other soldiers decimate the Christian legion—every tenth, randomly-selected soldier was executed. Maximian threatened to continue the decimations until the legion obeyed—he warned them he was willing to execute the entire legion.
Maurice, Exuperius, and Candidus led the legion, and they responded to Maximian by saying, “We are your soldiers, but we are also servants of the true God. We owe you military service and obedience, but we cannot renounce God who is our creator and master… We have arms in our hands, but we do not resist because we would rather die innocent than live by any sin.”
Maximian ordered the other legions to surround the Christians and kill them all. The ground was covered with bodies and blood, and the other soldiers looted what they could from the slain legion. One soldier, Victor, refused to participate in the massacre and looting. Soldiers asked him if he was Christian. When he answered that he was, he was killed as well.
A shrine was built above the ground where these brave soldiers died, and miracles began to be attributed to the intercession of these martyrs.
The traditional story of these martyrs has been scrutinized for its historical accuracy. As there is little supporting evidence for the slaughter of an entire legion of Roman soldiers, the account of the martyrdom has probably been exaggerated. What seems historically likely, however, is that a soldier named Maurice and a number of his companions were martyred in the third century. What remains unknown is the number who were killed; perhaps the story of the martyrdom of a small, brave squadron of Christian soldiers, over repeated tellings over many years, became the slaughter of a legion.
Relics of Sts. Maurice, Exuperius, Candidus, and Victor all rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. The bust of St. Maurice pictured above stands in the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art—it is designed to be a reliquary vessel itself, although today it stands empty in the museum’s medieval gallery.
St. Maurice is patron saint of the Pontifical Swiss Guards at the Vatican, and also of soldiers, swordsmiths, and weavers.
Sts. Maurice, Exuperius, Candidus, and Victor, you faithfully led your legion to martyrdom—pray for us!
Image Credit: Italian, Reliquary Bust of Saint Maurice, ca. 1530, Gilt wood. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame. Art Purchases Fund, 1962.030.