Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
Today's Gospel is taken from the Gospel of Saint Luke, Chapter 16.
It's a continuation of yesterday's Gospel, where some of us heard the parable of the dishonest steward, who was commended by his master for his shrewdness, or his cleverness.
The dishonest steward knew how to take care of himself in this world.
It's true, he defrauded his boss of what he owed him.
The boss, meaning the Lord in this case, didn't like that part, but he admired the steward's ingenuity.
He admired him for knowing how to prepare for his future.
That's why one commentator calls the parable of the dishonest steward, he calls it a bad man's good example.
Because even bad people know how to give good examples sometimes, right, even sometimes they know how to do things right.
Our Lord said at the end of the parable, he said, the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light, Luke 16, verse 8.
That means that the children of this world are more worldly wise than the children of God are spiritually wise.
For example, worldly people know how to prepare for their earthy retirement a lot better than God's children know how to prepare for eternity.
So the Lord wants us to be more spiritually wise, that's where today's gospel actually comes in.
Jesus counsels us in verse 9, he says, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth or unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
What's the dishonest wealth or the unrighteous wealth that he's referring to?
First and foremost, it's worldly possessions, so material wealth.
St. Augustine says that they're called unrighteous riches here because they aren't riches except to anyone but the unrighteous, is what he says.
To them, they're riches, that's why they're unrighteous riches.
The people who put their hopes and their fulfillment of their happiness in material things and material securities.
In essence, our Lord is encouraging us to give alms, almsgiving.
Almsgiving is investing in the kingdom of God by divesting ourselves of riches in order to help others in need, essentially.
So it's investing by divesting.
Essentially all the works of mercy, both the corporal and the spiritual works, they're all a form of almsgiving, actually.
Perfect example of almsgiving comes from the example of today's saint, St. Martin of Tours, fourth-century saint who we commemorate today.
St. Martin is famous for having once cut his military cloak in half in order to share it with a beggar.
That night, Martin dreamed of Jesus wearing that half of the cloak that he had given away.
And he heard Jesus say to some of the angels, Martin, who's still a catechumen, clothe me with this robe, Jesus said to his angels.
The part of the cloak that St. Martin kept for himself actually became a very famous relic in France.
It was called the Capa Sancti Martini, meaning St. Martin's Cloak.
It was carried by kings into battle and used as a holy relic upon which people would actually swear oaths to.
The priest who carried the cloak in its reliquary was called a Capellano.
All the priests who served in the military were called Capellani.
That's actually the same word they use in Italian nowadays.
The French translation is Chapulain, that's where we get the word English, in English chaplain from, that's where we get the word chaplain from.
Even the small temporary churches, which were built for St. Martin's relic, each of those churches was called a Capella, the word for little cloak, that's where we get the name for the small buildings today that we call chapels, essentially.
So all that because of one act of charity done 1600 years ago.
That's even why we're celebrating Mass today in Sacred Heart Chapel, because of St. Martin of Tours and his giving alms.
Again Jesus says in verse 9 in a more literal translation, he says, Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into eternal dwellings.
In the parable of the dishonest steward, the master's debtors would be obliged to welcome the steward into their homes because he took care of them, essentially.
Jesus wants us to do good to the poor and to those who can't pay us back with earthly means so that these people will welcome us into paradise, essentially, that we will be welcomed into God's kingdom by those who were indebted to us because the poor are the representatives of Christ, as St. Martin very famously experienced.
Jesus says in verse 11, he says, If you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth or mammon, who will trust you with true wealth?
Actually, the word for wealth or mammon there likely derives from a Hebrew word which means that in which one trusts.
So indirectly our Lord is even asking us, he's saying, are you trusting in me or are you trusting in what you possess?
Are you trusting in the things of the earth instead?
The true riches or the true wealth that Jesus speaks about in 11, verse 11, are eternal riches and spiritual wealth.
So he's talking about glory and honor in heaven on the one hand, but he's also talking about the riches of the soul on the other hand, too.
Like God's grace or like the virtues, faith, hope, charity, the moral virtues, to a lesser degree even the intellectual virtues, too.
True riches include, believe it or not, true riches actually include the crosses that Jesus sends to you.
Because those crosses, big or small, are all part of my sharing in his redemptive work.
And when you work for Jesus and with Jesus, you get a great reward for that.
He doesn't just pay minimum wage.
He pays a lot better, believe it or not, a very handsome reward.
So with almsgiving, I acquire true riches by giving them myself to help others essentially.
And effectively Jesus is saying if you don't use material wealth wisely by giving alms, if you don't use your other earthly gifts wisely either, why would God entrust you with spiritual wealth, with spiritual riches, with heavenly gifts?
Why would he do that?
In reality, everything that we have is on loan from God essentially when you think about our time, talents, strength, intelligence, beauty, health, possessions.
It's all here today gone tomorrow.
God is watching to see what we do with these things.
Do we use them for his glory and for the good of others?
Or do we use what we have for what's sinful or selfish?
Just tie that in with another passage, Matthew 6 verses 3 and 4, where Jesus says, When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
So your alms may be in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
So firstly that means that we shouldn't publicize our almsgiving and our good deeds to the extent that that's possible to not do that.
Maybe sometimes it even is good or helpful to let other people know about the good that we've done.
Perhaps they'll contribute to a certain cause as well too, so it's not always a bad thing to do that.
But in general, as a general rule of thumb, it's better for us to remain anonymous and known only to God.
Maybe just to the person who we're helping out as well.
On top of that, St. John Chrysostom interprets that passage, not letting your left hand know what your right hand's doing.
He interprets it as meaning if it's possible for you to remain unaware of the good that you're doing, he said, let that be your goal.
In other words, almsgiving, doing goods for others, it should become a habit.
It should become something that we do without thinking twice about it.
It should almost become as natural for us as breathing or walking.
St. Augustine adds to that, he says, let not your left hand know what your right hand does.
Means that the desire for other people's praise shouldn't mingle with our conscience, he says.
So we shouldn't do good because everyone else is looking at us.
We want them to look at us.
We should do good because we want God to look at us.
We want his praises, not everyone else's praises.
I think that all of these things kind of make sense for us for the most part, but in general we tend to lap into spiritual amnesia, right?
We tend to forget that earth is not our home, that we are a people in exile.
We're children in exile, essentially.
Our true home is in heaven.
Our true riches should be the heart of our Heavenly Father, should be the hearts of Jesus and Mary.
People who love us the most as they are and have done the most good for us as our Lord and our Lady have.
But as Jesus say, where your treasure is, what?
That's where your heart is too.
There your heart will be also, Matthew 6:21.
Our hearts need to be spiritually in the right place if we want to become the person that God created us to be.
If we want to truly be a light and a blessing to other people.
So one practical suggestion for almsgiving before we conclude, since almsgiving does coincide with the works of mercy as we said before, and even every prayer that we say for someone else, every prayer is a form of almsgiving.
It's the cheapest form of giving alms, probably many times it's the most valuable at the same time too.
Every Hail Mary that we say for someone, for their spiritual good or for their well-being, it's like a little coin that we give to our Lady.
It's a coin that she can spend on them, essentially.
And the more we say our prayer with love and devotion, the more valuable that coin becomes.
So let's not neglect to pray a Hail Mary, or maybe three Hail Marys, or even a whole rosary for those who we know need spiritual alms.
The people that we encounter each day.
Maybe it's the person who cuts us off in traffic or is driving too slow.
Maybe it's the checkout person at the store who is friendly or maybe not so friendly with us.
Maybe it's someone who we've seen on TV who's really off track in their thinking and in their lifestyle.
Maybe it's our neighbor whose dog just doesn't know how to keep its mouth shut, right?
Better to pray for that neighbor.
Pray for the neighbor more than the dog.
You can say a prayer for the dog, but it's better to pray for the neighbor.
They need it more.
There are so many people who cross our path every day, who are spiritually poor, who are in need of alms.
And our Lord promises that each of us will get a welcome, a great welcome in eternity, the more frequently we intercede for others, because that's almsgiving as well.
The prayers are a huge source of almsgiving for us.
So let's ask Our Lady for the grace to have our hearts in the right place, meaning with Her, with our Lord in Heaven as well.
That way, we'll use our material wealth and our gifts in a way that pleases them and prepares us for eternal love and eternal joy.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.