By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy
the poor of the land!...The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I
forget a thing they have done! Amos 8:4,7
It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should
pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument. 1 Timothy 2:8
If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest
wealth, who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy
with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? 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.” Luke 16:11-13
Piety
Piety is the honest statement of who we are
before God. Piety reflects in our life a
statement of Humility. God is the source
of all the good we do. We can watch him
work in our lives as he uses our weakness to make his strength and presence
felt. The prudent, worldly-wise man of
the Gospel story prepares himself for the time when he does not have a job. If the worldly prepare for retirement so they
can enjoy life here on earth, how much more should we prepare ourselves for heaven?
Is it going to be said of us that the children of this world were more prudent
than the children of light in dealing with their own generation?
Study
We look at how people
cheat to make an extra buck. They work
hard at cheating. Do we have standards
of life that allow us to cheat on our responsibilities? Do I set myself up so
that I can get away with doing the least needed? Purity of intention requires
of me that I look to see by my study and prayer how I can do the best job
possible. The Hidden Life grace means
that we work just as hard at the jobs no one sees us doing as we would work
with the whole world watching. We are
all showmen about many things in our lives and it takes prayer, fasting and
good works to discover the best way to work in the name of the Lord. Real pleasure in doing what is right is how God
is forever calling us to be ourselves in his name. Our
goodness speaks volumes when we do all for the name of the Lord.
Action
Action speaks louder than
words. Living Christ is better than
speaking him. If we are going to talk
about Christ, it is better that we talk to Christ first about what we are going
to say. Our world has more than enough
hypocrites. We need to live the advice
of St. Francis to the young member of
his community. “Preach always and occasionally use words.” We
preach by the quality of our lives. We
need to pray for each other. Paul
advises us to lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. It is our love of Jesus Christ who died on
the cross for us that challenges us to give of ourselves even as he has given
to us. If we are to be the Disciples of
Christ, we need to carry our crosses of life in his name. Selfishness gives way to selflessness when we
do all in the name of Christ. When we
love even as Christ has loved us we are giving our lives for our neighbors. Offering our lives for the sake of each other
is how we love like Christ loved us.
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