Readings (Year C):
Amos 8:4 – 7
Psalm 113:1 – 2, 4 – 6, 7 – 8
1 Timothy 2:1 – 8
Luke 16:1 – 13
Reflection: Be faithful in the small things
Our world teaches us that “bigger is better,” so many believe that we need bigger homes with huge closets, luxurious cars, enormous bank accounts, and large, lavish lives. The world is fixated on making money and focusing on one’s income rather than things of God. In Luke’s gospel for this Sunday, Jesus reminds us that small things matter and that faithfulness in small things is the foundation of a faithful life. Before we are trusted with true riches, we are asked to be faithful with what may seem ordinary or small.
Luke’s passage makes it clear that “no one can serve two masters . . . You cannot serve God and wealth.” Money is a terrible master as it distorts our worldview, so we stop seeing people as neighbors and begin seeing them as resources or threats. To serve God means orienting every part of our lives around love, grace, and justice. We cannot claim to serve God while our hearts are captive to consumerism, power, status, or self-interest.
Every day, we make choices that declare who our true master is. Will we follow God, or will we serve the idol of accumulation and wealth? We must choose.
In a world that urges us to “go big or go home,” Jesus teaches the power of small, consistent acts of love, honesty, generosity, and justice. One’s character is revealed in everyday decisions with how we handle small things, such as our words, our time, our money, and our relationships. True wealth is not gold or bank accounts; it is grace, justice, compassion, generosity, and peace, which are the gifts of the Spirit. We cannot pursue those things while worshiping wealth, as we need to see care of our neighbors, the environment, and the vulnerable as a holy responsibility.
We need to become faithful to God and not to money. Our faith must be embodied not just in church, but in how we spend money, treat people, respond to injustice, and care for creation. Being faithful in the little things is a revolutionary act in a world that often ignores the quiet, humble, and everyday acts of love and justice. Faithfulness is doing the right thing when no one is watching and giving a little when you don’t have a lot.
The small gifts we bring to God can change the world for good. Consider Mother Teresa, who left Albania when she was 18 years old and joined the Sisters of Loreto to serve as a teacher. She went to India, and after 20 years, decided to leave to serve the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. She didn’t have anything but her trust in God. She began the Missionaries of Charity with just 12 members in Calcutta. In 2023, there are now 5,750 members serving in 139 countries. The order has 760 homes, with 244 in India. Mother Teresa brought her small gifts to God, and God multiplied them to further God’s kin-dom here on Earth.
God is searching our hearts and asking us to be trustworthy. When we trust God, things grow and multiply. So give your heart to God and commit to live justly and humbly, even when the world calls us to live otherwise. The small acts of faith and trust in God shape our character and our communities.
As we follow Jesus, may we be faithful in the little things, so we may be entrusted with greater things from God. Let us reject the false god of wealth and work towards building the kin-dom by serving the one true God.
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