Today we hear a disconcerting parable: the master who praises his administrator despite his dishonesty. In reality, it is not dishonesty that is praised, but cunning, above all in one aspect: making friends with dishonest wealth. After all, this shrewd administrator is an upside-down compared to another Lucan figure: the rich fool (cf. Lk 12: 16-21). The latter bases his life on what he possesses locking himself in a loneliness without relationships, which leads him to death. The shrewd administrator, sharing with the poor, transforms goods into relationships that will welcome him into eternal homes. Of course, the problem of his dishonesty remains. Jesus asks us to be faithful and Amos condemns those who are fraudulently enriching themselves against the poor. However, it remains true that the way in which God wants us to remain faithful to his goods does not consist in giving them back to him intact or a hundredfold, but that we share them with those in need. This is the shrewdness that needs to be lived: not a cleverness according to human logics, but the creative intelligence of those who, having a deep intuition of the mystery of God, conform themselves to his desire. “He wants all men to be saved,” St. Paul reminds Timothy. The disciple of Jesus has the same desire: that everyone enjoy the riches of the Kingdom. Cunning is not, then, to squander the riches, or to appropriate them, but to announce them and share them.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey