Sharing Guidelines
*Sharing is not a time for teaching or debate; it is a time to sense the marvelous work of the Holy Spirit who leads the gathering.
*Reflection sharing is not meant to teach others but to share the meaning you personally have discovered. Therefore, do not criticize or debate another person’s sharing. Avoid boasting of your own understanding or knowledge.
*Respect the grace of the Holy Spirit, who reveals the meaning of the Word while dwelling among us, and listen attentively to others’ sharing, holding it in your heart.
*Keep confidential any personal reflections or stories shared in the group; practicing brotherly love means not passing along private matters outside the meeting.
*When speaking, always use the first person singular (“I”). Be careful not to distance or generalize your story by using the third person (“he,” “they”) or the first person plural (“we”).
*Keep it short.
Gospel
Luke 16:1-13
Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ Then to another the steward said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’
The steward said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. “For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 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 both God and mammon.”
—————————
Today’s Meditation
When a parent’s birthday comes around, young children often prepare a gift for them. They may write a sweet letter or buy a present with money they have carefully saved. Even a small gift brings great joy to the parents. In reality, though the parents receive the gift from their children, it is only a portion of what they have already given to them—and even young children understand this.
But as those children grow up and begin earning money, they sometimes fall into the illusion that they are now the ones doing something for their parents. They forget that without their parents they could not have been born, stood, or spoken, and with a small offering they can quickly become proud.
It is the same for us before God. Every single day we live and everything we possess could never truly be ours without His gift. Yet when we make an offering, we often imagine we are giving “our own” to Him, when in fact we are merely returning a small part of what we have already received from Him.
——————————-
Sharing
1 Pick a verse that touches your heart and reflect on it from these points of view:
– as the master
– as the steward (manager)
– as the person who owes the debt
2 Think about this: “Everything I give to God and others already belongs to the Lord.” Have you ever realized that something you thought was yours is really God’s? What can we do to remember that all we own belongs to God, not us?
3 The Bible says, “Use worldly wealth to make friends.” How are you using the money God gives you to lead friends closer to faith? If God gave you an extra $1,000 every month, how would you use it to guide friends to faith?
