＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Romans 16:3-9, 16, 22-27

Greetings to Prisca and Aqui­las,

My helpers in Christ Jesus. To save my life, they risked theirs; I am very grateful to them, as are all the churches of the pagan nations. Greetings also to the church that meets in their house. Greetings to my dear Epa­e­netus, the first in the province of Asia to believe in Christ.  

Greet Mary, who worked so much for you. Greetings to Andronicus and Junias, my relatives and companions in prison; they are well known apostles and served Christ before I did.

Give greetings to Ampliatus, whom I love so much in the Lord. Greetings to Urbanus, our fellow worker, and to my dear Stachys.   Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send their greetings. I, Tertius, the writer of this letter, send you greetings in the Lord.

 Greetings from Gaius, who has given me lodging and in whose house the church meets.   Greetings from Erastus, treasurer of the city, and from our brother Quartus.

Glory be to God!  He is able to give you strength, according to the Good News I proclaim, announcing Christ Jesus.

Now is revealed the mysterious plan kept hidden for long ages in the past.  By the will of the eternal God it is brought to light, through the prophetic books, and all nations shall believe the faith proclaimed to them.  Glory to God, who alone is wise, through Christ Jesus, for ever! Amen.

 

Ps 145:2-3, 4-5, 10-11

I will praise your name forever, Lord.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊     

Luke 16:9-15

 And so I tell you: use filthy money to make friends for yourselves, so that when it fails, these people may welcome you into the eternal homes.

 Whoever can be trusted in little things can also be trusted in great ones; whoever is dishonest in slight matters will also be dishonest in greater ones. So if you have not been trust­worthy in handling filthy money, who could ­entrust you with true wealth? And if you have not been trustworthy with things that are not really yours, who will give you the wealth which is your own?

 No servant can serve two masters. Either he does not like the one and is fond of the other, or he regards one highly and the other with contempt. You cannot give yourself both to God and to Money.”

 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and sneered at Jesus. He said to them, “You do your best to be considered righteous by people. But God knows the heart, and what rises high among humans is loathed by God.

 

Gospel Reflection：

Money is a medium of exchange. One gives money for something and one receives something in return. It ought to facilitate smooth transfer and exchange of goods. Therefore money is supposed to be a good servant.

The problem is, when money becomes the master, it is truly a terrible master. It subverts the production and supply chain of goods. It only looks for a chance to maximize itself. That is why a lot of injustice happens.

When only making profit is the end goal, then money becomes dirty. There is still a way out when one, in a momentary weakness, succumbs to the lure of money. You can use it to right the wrong that you have done. You can plow it back to remedy the disturbance you caused by your momentary greed in the natural order.

Jesus counsels us to make friends with the use of money. This could come in handy to help us when we ourselves are in dire need.