25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C (2025)
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Amos 8:4-7
Psalm 113:1-2, 4-6, 7-8 (see 1a, 7b)
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Luke 16:1-13
September 21, 2025
There were those “who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor.” They were more interested in selling grain than practicing the faith. They outwardly kept the sabbath but inwardly couldn’t wait for it to be over so they could open their business.
They diminished the ephah (size of what was sold) while they added to the shekel and cheated they scales. They would even sell people. They would sell what was considered waste if they could.
In short, they would do anything to make money.
I write these words in the past tense for they come from the Book of the Prophet Amos written in the 8th Century B.C. Unfortunately, the same thing goes on today.
What are we to do?
We should first ask ourselves if we are one of them. Do you keep the Third Commandment, honoring the Sabbath both outwardly and inwardly? Do you trample on the poor or do you help them in their need? Are you honest in your business dealings with others, keeping the Seventh and Eighth Commandments? If you are not, remember, our Lord does not forget a thing we have done (unless we repent and confess our sins).
We should also ask God what He wants us to do help those who trample the poor and cheat in business dealings.
And we should pray.
I repeat the words Paul wrote to Timothy, “First of all, I ask that supplications, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.” We pray that the Lord “raises up the lowly” and that we each do our part to help those in need.
“This is good and pleasing to God our savior.”
The steward in the gospel did what is pleasing to other people so that they would welcome him into their homes. We should do what is good and pleasing to God.
Why? First and foremost, because God loves us we should love him in return. Loving him means trusting him and loving those He created, our neighbors.
In speaking of prayer, Paul speaks of supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings. How do you pray? Do you give God your list of demands and then wait for him to answer them the way you want?
Do ever take time to thank God when He has answered your prayers and for any blessings He has given you? Do you live with an attitude of gratitude?
Do you take any time in prayer to simply seek to be aware of God’s presence?
Do you take time to hand your weaknesses and failings over to God, trusting in his loving mercy?
When you pray, what is your attitude in prayer? Do you offer your requests as demands or do you tell God what your needs are and entrust them to him, knowing He knows and will do what is best? In my blog article, “Perspectives on Prayers,” I quote from Rev. Evan Pilkington’s Paths to Personal Prayer (Twenty-Third Publications: Mystic, Connecticut. 1988. The edition I read is from the third printing in 1991.) “The object of the exercise is not to inform God of what you what…The object of the exercise is to put yourself, with all your desires, anxieties, problems, circumstances, duties, pleasures, and pains, into the hands of God.” This is what Paul speaks of as “supplication” in prayer.
Give your heart to God in prayer and He will find your heart and soul with love and you will know his peace.
Peace,
Fr. Jeff