25th Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Perplexing Parable of the Dishonest Steward

If you are confused by today's Gospel, you are in good company! A steward is accused of squandering a rich man's money, and before the steward is fired, he writes off a bunch of the debt owed to his master, and he is commended by his master for doing so. This makes very little sense, until we realize that we are the subject of this parable -- our wealth, which is merely "on loan" to us until we die, we can either squander by using it just for ourselves or we can make friends with it by giving it away -- and these friendships, unlike the wealth, will last into eternal life.