Deacon Kevin Gingras
Sept 25th, 2025
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092125.cfm
Amos 8:4-7 Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8
This week, as Jesus continues on his journey towards Jerusalem and his ultimate sacrifice, He gives us yet another interesting story.
In today’s parable, the master gets wind of the steward's dishonest practices and calls him out on the carpet; the steward is to be audited. Even then, they didn’t like audits! The steward is afraid of losing his situation, so he goes to all the master’s debtors and tells them to write notes that are significantly less than what they used to owe. This is because the steward has removed HIS portion of the debt, his commission. The master will still get his full cut, so the master commends the dishonest steward. Now, if the master decides to fire the steward, he has just made some new friends who might be inclined to hire him, and he can keep his life of leisure. Jesus challenges us today to choose our goal in life: God or treasures. Today’s steward liked treasures. The first reading from the prophet Amos also reminds us that wealth was a seductive trap for the people of God throughout salvation history. Is our wealth a trap for us, too? What do we do about it?
All the treasures we carry add unnecessary weight to us, to our souls. We must be good stewards like in today’s Gospel:
No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.
What do we serve? Our treasure here on earth? I hope not. A few years ago, my daughter Faith and I were walking down the beach. She kept picking up what she deemed to be “treasures” and handing them to me. I considered it all to be debris, but my opinion didn’t matter. Anyway, I was putting these treasures into my pants pockets. We were walking around Boardwalk Beach in Sandwich on Cape Cod. She kept finding more and more “treasures”, rocks, shell parts, and the like. I kept putting them in my pockets for her. At first, it was no big deal, but as we rounded the bend, I realized I had to start hiking my pants up after a few steps; these “treasures” were getting heavy and were weighing my pants down! Our treasures on earth can do this to us; we slowly stockpile them, accumulating more and more. We just get more and more treasure, so we need more places to store our treasure. I’ve noticed a huge amount of storage facilities going up all over the place. Our stuff doesn’t fit in our houses anymore! Our treasures are weighing us down.
J.R.R. Tolkien, in his book The Hobbit, wrote:
"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew:
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes the chapter on the Tenth Commandment - Thou shalt not Covet thy Neighbor’s goods with the following:
2551 "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Mt 6:21).
2552 The tenth commandment forbids avarice arising from a passion for riches and their attendant power.
2553 Envy is sadness at the sight of another's goods and the immoderate desire to have them for oneself. It is a capital sin. (YIKES!)
2554 The baptized person combats envy through goodwill, humility, and abandonment to the providence of God.
2555 Christ's faithful "have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Gal 5:24); they are led by the Spirit and follow his desires.
2556 Detachment from riches is necessary for entering the Kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are the poor in spirit."
This week, I’m giving myself homework. To thank God for all that I have and make an account of all my treasure! Reminding myself that not all stuff is bad; some stuff is necessary to survive, but where and what is my excessive stuff? What of our treasure is weighing us down and keeping our eyes away from God? Where can we cut back, and where can we give to those who have so much less than we do?
St. Anthony of Padua really cuts to the heart with this quote:
“Earthly riches are like the reed. Its roots are sunk in the swamp, and its exterior is fair to behold, but inside, it is hollow. If a man leans on such a reed, it will snap off and pierce his soul.”