Amos 8:4-7 / 1 Timothy 2:1-8 / Luke 16:1-13
All of us have habits, and each of us have our own peculiar habits. Some habits have some common features while some can be quite unique.
Some need to sleep as early as 9 o’clock in the evening, while others can stay awake late into the night. Some must have breakfast in the morning, while others will combine breakfast and lunch and call it “brunch”.
And some habits are called good, while other habits are called bad.
It is said that mothers have this bad habit of talking when no one is listening. By the way priests also have this habit of talking even when people are sleeping.
But whether it is a good habit or a bad habit, most of our habits are formed when we were young and they stay with us.
So from young, we are told things like: don’t talk with your mouth full, do your homework, stand up straight, don’t bite your nails, comb your hair. These are old-fashioned good habits.
And along with that are habits that help in character and moral formation, like, be honest, don’t cheat, don’t lie.
In the gospel, Jesus tells a parable of a steward who was denounced for being wasteful with his master’s property, and so he was going to be dismissed.
The steward did some quick thinking and came up with an idea to have some means of livelihood after his dismissal.
He deliberately and dishonestly altered the debtors’ accounts to make it look like as if he was lowering what was owed to the master.
Up to here, our possible opinions about the steward’s character would be that he is dishonest, that he is cheating and that he is lying.
And also it was probably not the first time that the steward was doing it. He had probably done it before and gotten away with it. But he was found out and so he was denounced as being wasteful with his master’s property.
But what we don’t quite understand is that, why did the master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness, and since it is Jesus who is telling the story, then that’s what He’s also saying.
But the next line might help to clarify what Jesus is saying, that the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.
To set the record straight the master did not praise the steward for his dishonesty. Rather the master praised the steward for his astuteness.
In telling the parable Jesus used this point to capture our attention and curiosity, and in doing so He’s also making us do some thinking.
Firstly, bad habits like dishonesty and cheating and lying don’t happen overnight. They usually start as a little bad habit but if it is not nipped in the bud, then they grow bigger and bigger and can have devastating effects.
That is the clear moral lesson from the gospel parable, and in the 1st reading the bad habits became serious issues as the needy were trampled upon and the poor was suppressed.
Yes, bad habits feed the bottomless pit of greed and selfishness. The result is obvious, there is injustice and that causes innocent people to suffer.
So much about the dangerous bad habits. What about the good habits then?
And here Jesus gets down to the point as He says: “The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own?”
Honesty and integrity are not just good habits, but they are precious values that build trust between people.
And more than that, honesty and integrity show our faith in God and that He is the top priority in our lives, and that He is above and over all others.
But good habits and values cannot be possible without prayer. Because when we come before the Lord, we cannot pray for blessings and yet play around with bad habits.
God has entrusted to us the power of prayer and we must use it faithfully and fervently so that goodness will prevail over evil.
Saint Paul would urge us in the 2nd reading:
My advice is that, first of all, there should be prayers offered for everyone - petitions, intercessions and thanksgiving - and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet. To do this is right, and will please God our Saviour He wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth.
Yes, prayer is a powerful gift from God. Let us use it to cultivate a good habits and values.
Let us also use prayer faithfully and devotedly so that there can be peace in this world and that there will be salvation in the next.