Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 19, 2010

Jesus speaks about a wily business manager who uses initiative to prepare for a decent future, now that his boss is firing him.  Apparently what this man is doing -- for which his boss compliments him for resourcefulness -- is lowering the interest rates which he had originally proposed to his boss's debtors, so that these people might look upon him favorably when he is searching for a new situation.

Do believers show as much initiative as this man?  Our relationship with God is about eternity, something encompassing even more than the future!  We relate to God in what is for us the hard-to-imagine realm of timelessness.  We can hide nothing from God.  Do we show God at least as much devotion as the manager did toward the debtors?  

A relationship with God is something truly personal.  Christianity teaches us that God the Son established an unbreakable bond with human beings by himself becoming human.  If we who understand ourselves to be Christians do not take initiative in exploring the relationship which our God is opening up to us, we impoverish ourselves.

Christianity is a communal experience.  We must participate in shared worship with Christian brothers and sisters, and open ourselves to opportunities for service.  When we commit ourselves to what we know we must do, we will find a variety of doors opening up to us.  We come to discover who we really are.