A humble prophet, of pastoral origin and simple peasant, is forced in spite of himself by God to make himself his voice against all those who oppress the “poor” and exploit the “humble of the country”. The rigorous text seems to be in contrast with the parable, creating a certain confusion in our minds and hearts called to take as a model an administrator clearly and deliberately “disonest”. To live that “calm and peaceful life, dignified and dedicated to God” that Paul advises to ask for in prayer as a gift, it is necessary to learn to get “friends” by leveraging on the “little” that we are and knowing how to invest even in our frailties to transform every situation on an occasion. The Lord warns us of cowardice and that sort of spiritual depression that risks paralyzing and impoverishing life. Unlike the pleasure-seekers of Samaria, in the parable at the end everyone has a small advantage of joy, not excluding the master who, in reality, does not have much to lose and everything to gain with an administrator full of “cunning” not separated from the ability to remit. some debt. The question becomes urgent: how can one discern whether one is acting as “children of this world” or as “children of light”? One answer and u The possible criteria are offered to us by the prophet Amos in the first reading: starting from what is our attitude towards “the poor” and towards “the humble”. If we accept to make the latter our “friends” (Lk 16: 9), they will be the ones to welcome us into the “eternal mansions” making room for us, right now, in their lives.

Commentary by b. Michael David, osb Novalesa Abbey

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey