Life in general has shown that we are all administrators in one way or the other; of our lives, talents, and the goods bequeathed to us by God. But sometimes, we can cheat and manipulate others around us in the way we live our lives. In our personal vocabulary, the verbs ‘to cheat’ and ‘to deceive’ are usually conjugated only in the passive form: “I have been cheated,” “I have been deceived.” However, there always comes a time when we have to give an account of our life and then, we realize how many times we were the subject of those verbs in the active form!
Personal evaluation
The prophet Amos exhorts us to make an introspection and a personal evaluation of our lives and our relationships with others, where at times we have used false scales (Amos 8,5). That is, we have weighed what was ours in an unfairly different way from what belonged to others. We have perhaps tried to gain unfairly, thinking first of all of our interests. We waited for the right moment to buy the weaker one (Amos 8.6). We waited for the moment when the other was in difficulty to take advantage of it, perhaps to finally take our revenge. We even sold the “waste/trash” of our life (Amos 8,6). We gave to the other what was not important to us. Or we pretended to be generous with what was of no value to us. The list can go on and on, and we will discover how we have actively been involved in cheating others or buying them over. Meditation and deep personal prayer can aid us to discover these dark areas of our lives.
Dishonest administrators
The words of Jesus in this Sunday’s Gospel remind us that sooner or later the moment arrives for everyone when we must be accountable, not only as individuals, I believe, but also as Society, as Church and, indeed, as humanity. The basic question that the liturgy puts before us today is: “What am I doing with my life? How am I managing this life, this time, this opportunity, what has been providentially placed in my hands? We are all administrators. How have I fared so far? Have I been subtly or overly dishonest in my task as an administrator?
Praying for Public Administrators
The grace of God, which is more enabled through personal prayer, will always help us in our struggles with the frailty of our human nature. This frailty makes people into dishonest leaders. When the leader is dishonest, the negative effect is felt by all under him. This is why it is expedient that we pray for our leaders and those in public offices, just as the second reading of this Sunday exhorts us to do. It is good to criticize them, hold them to account, and be for them like the Socratic “gadfly.” But how many times have I prayed for those in government? How many times have I earnestly asked God to imbue them with the wisdom and rectitude of life to become honest administrators? If I have not been doing this so far, I can begin from today.
