Twenty Fifth Sunday

The wise steward

There is a certain astuteness or cleverness that we all admire in those who have a 'business sense' or 'business head'. Some people are born woth a certain savvy when it comes to money. There are, it seems, two kinds of people - savers and spenders.

There is another astuteness we all admire in business people and that is the ability to network. They can call in favours from others at a fortuitous time. Everything falls into place so that all the events and meetings and connections made in the past bear fruit and come together wonderfully in the future. Some people artfully make political connections, others exchange and return favours. In other words every connection is a potential windall and with mutual benefits. They impress. Such people see the potential and the possibilities in everyone they meet - be they future clients, future customers, and future business opportunities. They have the antennae out for future plans and investments.

You have to admire people who see to be born with this extra factor of drive, energy, commitment and positivity. They are leaders and nor simply managers. They are self-starters who have vision,  confidence, take risks and also make contingency plans.

The wise steward in the Gospel obviously had made sosme bad investments or had spent foolishly so that when the day of reckoning arrived he quickly put into action an emergency plan to bail himself out, even though it was at his master's expense!

He knew 'how to make friends and influence people'.

The Lord encourages us to be wise and astute in financial matters - to use 'money, that tainted thing' to our advantage. It is a necesasry evil - we are not to become attached to it but detachment helps us to use it to good effect, for the good of others. We will also be held to account for our stewardship of money that comes our way and the Gospel these Sundays gives us plenty of food for thought on social inequality and our own part and ingenuity to redress the imbalances in society in which we find ourselves.