CCC Cross Reference:
Rom 16:25-27 2641; Rom 16:26 143, 1204, 2087
Ps 145:3 300
Lk 16:13 2424
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Reading 1
Rom 16:3-9, 16, 22-27
Brothers and sisters:
Greet Prisca and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus,
who risked their necks for my life,
to whom not only I am grateful but also all the churches of the Gentiles;
greet also the Church at their house.
Greet my beloved Epaenetus,
who was the firstfruits in Asia for Christ.
Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.
Greet Andronicus and Junia,
my relatives and my fellow prisoners;
they are prominent among the Apostles
and they were in Christ before me.
Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.
Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ,
and my beloved Stachys.
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
All the churches of Christ greet you.
I, Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord.
Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole Church, greets you.
Erastus, the city treasurer,
and our brother Quartus greet you.
Now to him who can strengthen you,
according to my Gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ,
according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages
but now manifested through the prophetic writings and,
according to the command of the eternal God,
made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith,
to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ
be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 145:2-3, 4-5, 10-11
R. (1b) I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord and highly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Generation after generation praises your works
and proclaims your might.
They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.
Gospel
Lk 16:9-15
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth,
so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
The person who is trustworthy in very small matters
is also trustworthy in great ones;
and the person who is dishonest in very small matters
is also dishonest in great ones.
If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth,
who will trust you with true wealth?
If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another,
who will give you what is yours?
No servant can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.”
The Pharisees, who loved money,
heard all these things and sneered at him.
And he said to them,
“You justify yourselves in the sight of others,
but God knows your hearts;
for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God.”
Reading from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading Romans 16:3 – 27
My greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked death to save my life: I am not the only one to owe them a debt of gratitude, all the churches among the pagans do as well. My greetings also to the church that meets at their house.
Greetings to my friend Epaenetus, the first of Asia’s gifts to Christ; greetings to Mary who worked so hard for you; to those outstanding apostles Andronicus and Junias, my compatriots and fellow prisoners who became Christians before me; to Ampliatus, my friend in the Lord; to Urban, my fellow worker in Christ; to my friend Stachys; Greet each other with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.
I, Tertius, who wrote out this letter, greet you in the Lord. Greetings from Gaius, who is entertaining me and from the whole church that meets in his house. Erastus, the city treasurer, sends his greetings; so does our brother Quartus.
Glory to him who is able to give you the strength to live according to the Good News I preach, and in which I proclaim Jesus Christ, the revelation of a mystery kept secret for endless ages, but now so clear that it must be broadcast to pagans everywhere to bring them to the obedience of faith. This is only what scripture has predicted, and it is all part of the way the eternal God wants things to be. He alone is wisdom; give glory therefore to him through Jesus Christ for ever and ever. Amen.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 144(145):2-5,10-11
I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
I will bless you day after day
and praise your name for ever.
The Lord is great, highly to be praised,
his greatness cannot be measured.
I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
Age to age shall proclaim your works,
shall declare your mighty deeds,
shall speak of your splendor and glory,
tell the tale of your wonderful works.
I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord,
and your friends shall repeat their blessing.
They shall speak of the glory of your reign
and declare your might, O God.
I will bless your name for ever, O Lord.
Gospel Luke 16:9 – 15
Jesus said to his disciples, I tell you this: use money, tainted as it is, to win you friends, and thus make sure that when it fails you, they will welcome you into the tents of eternity. The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great; the man who is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in great. If then you cannot be trusted with money, that tainted thing, who will trust you with genuine riches? And if you cannot be trusted with what is not yours, who will give you what is your very own?
‘No servant can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.’
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and laughed at him. He said to them, ‘You are the very ones who pass yourselves off as virtuous in people’s sight, but God knows your hearts. For what is thought highly of by men is loathsome in the sight of God.’
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
Saturday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time
From: Romans 16:3-9, 16, 22-27
Greetings and Recommendations
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[3] Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, [4] who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I but also all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks; [5] greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epenetus, who was the first convert in Asia for Christ. [6] Greet Mary, who has worked hard among you. [7] Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners; they are men of note among the apostles, and they were in Christ before me. [8] Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. [9] Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. [16] Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
[22] I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord. [23] Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.
Doxology
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[25] Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages [26] but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith--[27] to the only wise God be glory for evermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.
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Commentary:
1-16. This long series of affectionate greetings which the Apostle sends the Romans shows that the early Christians formed one great family, in which each saw the rest as brothers and sisters (cf. Acts 15:23; Rom 1:13; 1 Cor 1:10; Jas 1:2; 2 Pet 1:10; 1 Jn 3:13; etc.). As we can see from the names given here, this family contained people from manly different parts of the Empire--Greeks: Andronicus, Olympas, Asyncritus, Hermes; people from Asia Minor or the Hellenic world: Epenetus, Persis, Patrobas; Latins: Junias, Ampliatus, Prisca, Julia, Urbanus; Jews: Herodion, Mary, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, etc. It also included people of all types of social background; most of the people mentioned probably were of humble condition or slaves or freed men, as can be deduced from texts on funeral slabs; but there were others who had social positions of some importance, like Prisca, who was a member of a noble Roman family, Aristobulus and Narcissus, who belonged to "a family", that is, a household with many servants, Erastus, etc.
They all felt united by a bond of charity and a common calling to holiness, as can be seen from references to "the saints" (cf. Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; Heb 13:24; Jude 3; etc.). They were not perfect; we are well aware that they had their limitations (cf. the moral irregularities mentioned in chapter 13, and the disagreements between the "strong" and the "weak" in chapter 14); but their desire for sanctity and their charity inspired them to serve one another and to put themselves and their possessions at the disposal of the Church. Their commitment was such that they managed to spread their influence in a pagan world and light it up with the light of salvation. They were families "who lived in union with Christ and who made him known to others. Small Christian communities which were centers for the spreading of the Gospel and its message. Families no different from other families of those times, but living with a new spirit, which spread to all those who were in contact with them. This is what the first Christians were, and this is what we have to be--sowers of peace and joy, the peace and joy that Jesus has brought to us" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 30).
1-2. Phoebe was probably the bearer of this letter. She came from Cenchreae, the eastern port of Corinth. Paul refers to her being a "ministra ecclesiae", a minister or servant of the church at Cenchreae, perhaps because she helped with the assistance given to the poor and needy and may have had an auxiliary role in the baptism of women. Pliny the Younger, in his letter to the emperor Trajan, makes reference to two such women who helped in the Christian community ("Letter 10", 96).
4. Prisca and Aquila were a well-known married couple, as we can see from other passages in the New Testament (cf. Acts 18:2, 18; 1 Cor 16:19; 2 Tim 4 19). They probably came to the Apostle's aid in Ephesus at the time of the riot of the silversmiths (cf. Acts 19:23-40). Prisca or Priscilla, it has been suggested, was connected with a Roman family of senatorial rank, the Pudentes. According to an early tradition, St Paul stayed as a guest in their house in Rome.
5. Epaenetus was the "first-fruit" of Asia, that is, the first to be baptized in that eastern province of the Empire.
23. Gaius, one of the very few Christians of Corinth whom St Paul himself baptized (cf. 1 Cor 1:14), had made his house available to the Apostle and let it be used for church assembly.
25-27. Unlike other letters, this one ends with an elaborate poem of praise, or doxology, addressed through Jesus Christ, to God almighty and wise.
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From Luke 16:9-15
The Unjust Steward (Continuation)
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [9] "And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations.
[10] "He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. [11] If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? [12] And if you had not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? [13] No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."
[14] The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at Him. [15] But He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God."
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Commentary:
9-11. "Unrighteous mammon" means temporal good which have been obtained in some unjust, unrighteous way. However, God is very merciful: even this unjust wealth can enable a person to practice virtue by making restitution, by paying for the damage done and then by striving to help his neighbor by giving alms, by creating work opportunities, etc. This was the case with Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, who undertook to restore fourfold anything he had unjustly taken, and also to give half his wealth to the poor. On hearing that, our Lord specifically declared that salvation had that day come to that house (cf. Luke 19:1-10).
Our Lord speaks out about faithfulness in very little things, referring to riches-- which really are insignificant compared with spiritual wealth. If a person is faithful and generous and is detached in the use he makes of these temporal riches, he will, at the end of his life, receive the rewards of eternal life, which is the greatest treasure of all, and a permanent one. Besides, by its very nature human life is a fabric of little things: anyone who fails to give them their importance will never be able to achieve great things. "Everything in which we poor men have a part -- even holiness -- is a fabric of small trifles which, depending upon one's intention, can form a magnificent tapestry of heroism or of degradation, of virtues or of sins.
"The epic legends always relate extraordinary adventures, but never fail to mix them with homely details about the hero. May you always attach great importance to the little things. This is the way!" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 826).
The parable of the unjust steward is a symbol of man's life. Everything we have is a gift from God, and we are His stewards or managers, who sooner or later will have to render an account to Him.
12. "That which is another's" refers to temporal things, which are essentially impermanent. "That which is your own" refers to goods of the spirit, values which endure, which are things we really do possess because they will go with us into eternal life. In other words: how can we be given Heaven if we have proved unfaithful, irresponsible, during our life on earth?
13-14. In the culture of that time "service" involved such commitment to one's master that a servant could not take on any other work or serve any other master.
Our service to God, our sanctification, requires us to direct all our actions towards Him. A Christian does not divide up his time, allocating some of it to God and some of it to worldly affairs: everything he does should become a type of service to God and neighbor -- by doing things with upright motivation, and being just and charitable.
The Pharisees jeered at what Jesus was saying, in order to justify their own attachment to material things; sometimes people make fun of total commitment to God and detachment from material things because they themselves are not ready to practice virtue; they cannot even imagine other people really having this generosity: they think they must have ulterior motives. See also the note on Matthew 6:24.
[The note on Matthew 6:24 states:
24. Man's ultimate goal is God; to attain this goal he should commit himself entirely. But in fact some people do not have God as their ultimate goal, and instead choose wealth of some kind -- in which case wealth becomes their god. Man cannot have two absolute and contrary goals.]
15. "Abomination": the original Greek work means worship of idols, and, by derivation, the horror this provoked in a true worshipper of God. So the expression conveys God's disgust with the attitude of the Pharisees who, by wanting to be exalted, are putting themselves, like idols, in the place of God.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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