Podcast: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Hi and welcome to the Modern Psalmist Podcast. I’m Rebecca De La Torre.

This weekend we celebrate the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C.

Many of the readings today contrast the rich and the poor, denoting that the Lord defends those who are poor and brings justice upon the rich who try to take advantage of the poor.

The Entrance Antiphon for today is

“I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord.
Should they cry to me in any distress,
I will hear them, and I will be their Lord for ever.”

Likewise, the Psalm for today, taken from chapter 113, proclaims the Lord’s dedication to those in need:

“Praise the Lord who lifts up the poor.”

Rather than an upbeat tempo and melody, I chose to compose this setting with a more meditative and hopeful sound to better fit with the rest of the liturgy for today. I hope you enjoy my version of Psalm 113: Praise the Lord.

The gospel for today is from Luke chapter 16 and it is one that I have always really liked. It’s the parable of the dishonest steward, and what I still find fascinating is that the Lord actually commends the steward for “acting prudently” even though he reduced the amounts of all his master’s debtors.

I’m guessing that the master realized that the servant had re-written all the promissory notes for a lesser amount. Now, at first glance I would think that the master would be indignant to see that his debtors had been relieved so much. I mean, this was money owed to the master, according to the loan documents.

However, considering that the dishonest steward was accused of squandering the master’s property, it’s quite possible that the debt the steward forgave was what the steward was stealing for himself. This is to say that the steward potentially had inflated the debts to begin with, in which case, when rewritten, what is owed to the master would actually be fair to both sides.

This is just a theory, of course, but it would make sense that when the master recognized this, instead of being angry, he commended the steward in the end.

Jesus uses this parable to continue to teach us to build up our treasures in heaven. In Luke chapter 16 verse 9, Jesus tells us:

“I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth,
so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”

He goes on to explain that we can’t have anything in our hearts before God. We cannot love both God and money. Specifically, he says in verse 13:

“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.”

This gospel leads well into the Communion Antiphon for today, that emphasizes serving God by obeying his decrees.

Taken from Psalm 119, verses 4 and 5, we read:

“You have laid down your precepts to be carefully kept;
may my ways be firm in keeping your statutes.”

The verses therein also affirm our commitment to obey the Lord and seek his will over our own.

That was the communion antiphon for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C. Sheet music and recordings for all featured songs can be found in the show notes or on TheModernPsalmist.com.

Next week we read the story of the poor man Lazarus begging at the table of the rich man Dives as we continue to explore the ways in which the Lord administers justice on the rich and the poor.

Have a blessed week.