Philippians 4:10-19; Psalm 112; Luke 16:9-15
In the Gospel of today, Jesus calls us to reexamine our attitude towards money. What value do we place on money?
How do we acquire it?
How do we spend it?
How trustworthy are we in handling it? What’s our disposition to it?
In this reflection, let me call our attention to five ways in which people often abuse money.
A. When money becomes a priority:
This is when we place the pursuit of money over our relationship with God, our family and our health. When money comes before the human person, we are slaves to money.
B. When we commit sin or violate our conscience because of money or we acquire it through ungodly means.
C. When we spend money unwisely, on useless things or wastefully.
D. When we allow money to dictate our mood, our attitude, the value we place on people or how we relate to them.
E. When we cling to money so much that we find it hard to be charitable and help people in need. Stinginess is an abuse of the use of money.
In the First Reading, St. Paul serves as an inspiration to us on how we should be disposed to money. He says he has learnt contentment in all situations and with or without wealth or comfort, he is joyful. However, he is grateful to the Philippians for their generosity to him. Again, the Philippians showed us by example, how to use money wisely to support the mission of the Church.
As we pray today that God may bless us with what we need to live well, let us also pray for the wisdom to use money wisely and not become a slave to it or be led astray because of it.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on November 5, 2022.