Readings: Amos 8:4-7; Ps 113:1-8; Luke 16:1-13

In today’s Gospel it says, you cannot ‘serve two masters….you cannot serve God and money’. But humans have tried…and continue to do so. Or maybe we really only serve money and pretend to serve God? So much of human existence wants to nudge us towards ‘going higher’; equating ‘having more’ with ‘being more’.

The first reading, from the prophet Amos, shows that grasping is not new. When we think no one is watching us and our greed, God is. Also greed does not just affect the person being greedy – it affects those who are not able to get what they need. This is amplified when there are worldwide systems that reward those who already have, further marginalising those who do not.

As the responsorial psalm tells us, God is not just watching, God ‘lifts up the poor’. How? By touching our hearts.

Rather than a relentless focus on possessions, we do well to listen to St Oscar Romero: ‘strive not to have more, but to be more’. The restlessness and need to strive that humans can feel is better channelled into making the most of our God-given talents. If we are more concerned about the rights of others being promoted; if we are more concerned about our relationships with others, there lies our salvation, in community. In that way we will bring God’s reign closer.