Friday 31st week in ordinary time
"Lk 16:1-8"
Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. And he called him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward'...So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' He said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'...for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light."
This corrupt steward didn't feel guilty for having been dishonest. His only concern was not to lose his livelihood. So when it came to getting the approval of others in order to get a new job, he just had to be a bit 'more dishonest'. It didn't worry him that it involved cheating and stealing...Some people don't mind sacrificing the truth for the sake of their own comfort; in order to avoid upsetting people they don't hesitate to hide the truth. When the High Priest asked Jesus if He was the Son of God, Jesus knew what was going to happen to Him if He said the truth. And He still told the truth. Many saints have given their lives defending the truth.
Honest people don't bargain with half-truths. It is said that one day, Dionysius I of Syracuse, who thought himself to be a gifted poet, was reading some of his verses to a wise man called Filoxenus. The man criticised his verses and Dionysus sent him to prison. After a few days, trying to give him a second chance, the tyrant asked for Filoxenus to be brought into his presence and read him a few more verses he had composed. The only words of the wise man were addressed to the soldiers, "Please, take me to prison again."
St Maximilian Kolbe said, "No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it." God is Truth and we love the Truth. And even if the Truth gets us in trouble, the proverb says, 'honesty is always the best policy.' For the truth is the truth, even if no one believes it. And a lie is a lie, even if everyone believes it.
Holy Mary, Mirror of Justice, help me to always stand up for the Truth.
