My first reaction when I read today’s gospel was disbelief and a sense of confusion.  The steward engages in what we CPAs would characterize as fraud and misappropriation of assets.  And the master commends him for his actions!  This certainly doesn’t match with my understanding of acceptable behavior by a business agent, nor by the principal.

So, I dug a little deeper.  I read the next few lines of Luke 16 and the related commentary on the USCCB website.  Apparently, the behavior of the steward was commended because he had written down the amount of the debt receivable to the actual amount borrowed, thus reducing the inflated amount which contained the agent’s personal graft.  It was customary in the Palestine area to charge usurious amounts of interest and that is what the agent did.  So, when the master expressed concern about the agent’s honesty, the steward adjusted the debt by reducing it to the real amount borrowed.  He was creating a benefit for the debtor, and thus was “acting prudently” – i.e., taking care of himself – something his master felt was worthy of commendation. 

The transition phrase to verses 9 – 13, (which amplify the teachings of the parable) “the children of this world,” refers to those of us chiefly motivated by our desire to accumulate dishonest wealth (i.e., false riches), that can lead us away from the path God calls us to pursue.  “The children of the light” refers to those who are motivated by and follow the teachings of Jesus.  The steward was clearly motivated by taking care of himself, not working to help those in need.  His “generosity” to the debtors was not to right an injustice, or to better their condition, but to help himself – i.e., to focus on what was in it for him. 

When I stepped back and let this sit with me for a few days, it resonated with the Ignatian principle of detachment.  There is nothing intrinsically evil about owning a wealth of worldly possessions, nor about owning very few of those items.  The moral and spiritual challenge is in putting that ownership in context – i.e., treating the wealth as true riches versus false ones.  True wealth is a means to becoming closer to God and to following the teachings of Jesus to take care of our sisters and brothers during this life on earth.  False riches lead us away from God by focusing our attention on ourselves, by creating (or reinforcing) feelings of entitlement, by ignoring those around us who are hurting and not as fortunate as us, by analyzing choices by thinking first what is in it for us rather for the greater good.  

Those of us not blessed with an abundance of wealth may also falsely conclude that they are disfavored, that their personal value as a person is diminished, that they are unjustly treated by society.  They, too, focus on themselves and not on why God has given them the gifts they have received, including material poverty. 

I am at the point in my life and career where I am inexorably moving closer to retirement (my wife already has).  I feel the uncertainty of having “enough” for us to be comfortable and relatively worry-free during these coming years.  Having more is almost always better than not having enough, especially when contemplating giving up a job after 45 years.  It is so easy to be moved by that reality than on the call from God and from Jesus to look beyond the immediate and focus on the eternal.  It is easy to be tempted to be less generous than in the past.  I don’t think of our retirement assets and other accumulations as “dishonest” wealth.  But reflecting on today’s passages, and those that follow it in Luke 16, can certainly frame the perspective in a different light. 

I am also aware that the greatest gift I have received is life itself.  I wonder how generously I will be to relinquish this most prized possession when I am called to do so.  I am mindful of the words of the Suscipe of Ignatius – giving the Lord all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my will – and the promise to restore them, to return them, when the time arrives.

And so, my prayer today is for the grace of detachment, to be grateful for the material wealth and gifts we have accumulated without being distracted by them, and to be able to freely and generously relinquish them in the future as I travel on the next steps in my journey.