Prepare a Full Account of Your Stewardship

Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

… I aspire to proclaim the Gospel not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on another’s foundation, but as it is written: Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand. (Romans 15:20-21)

The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power. (Psalms 98:2)

Then (Jesus) also said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.” (Luke 16:1-8)

Piety

Lord, help me to be prudent with the many gifts You provide.

Study

It wasn’t that the steward had stolen from the master or overcharged the debtors. Rather, the New American Bible notes on this parable tell us, “The dishonesty of the steward consisted in the squandering of his master’s property and not in any subsequent graft.”

The dictionary defines squandering as using something in a foolish or wasteful way, or losing something through negligence or inaction. It doesn’t involve willfulness or evilness on the squanderer’s part, but rather a lack of care, a lack of putting the proper value on what is held.

Like the steward, we sometimes squander the Master’s gifts, including opportunities to reflect Him to others through our actions and words. We use a sharp tone or hold a grudge or avoid situations in which we can minister to others. When we realize what we have done, may we like the steward reach out to those we have wronged and forgive what we have mentally tallied as the commission due us. May we be prudent and merciful with them, just as the Lord is with us.

Action

Prepare a full account of your own stewardship. Where do you need to begin to act with more charity and prudence?