St. Paul went through a lot in his life. Early on, he had it all. He was well off, well educated, well liked. But later he was beaten, thrown in prison and eventually martyred. In today’s first reading, he tells the secret of getting along in both situations. Read Philippians 4:13 for the answer. In the Gospel reading from Luke 16, Jesus talks about how it is impossible to serve two masters.
“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 God and mammon.” We all have conflict in our lives. Not just person against person or group against group. But conflicted feelings. Whenever we say yes to one thing, we are saying no to another. I think this is what Jesus is talking about.
None of us would like to think that we “serve” mammon, money or possessions. But what about those times when we choose to (unnecessarily) put in those extra hours at work, losing valuable family time. Or choose to get an early start on the fishing, golf or shopping outing, but miss Mass. Or…well, you get the idea. The more we serve God, the less we will serve other things. In the end, it’s all or nothing. Because when we try to juggle both, eventually we will drop one. Which one would you rather drop?
Father, forgive us for those times when we try to serve another master. Give us the grace today to say yes to you always. Amen.
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