We Need an Ingenious Plan

A Reflection on this Friday’s Gospel, Luke 16 1-8 – 8 November 2024

    In speaking recently with a police chief, he told me that he often works at night rather than in the day. He explained that violent crimes are more prevalent at night and that is when he needs to be at his best. For example, midnight is the peak hour for murder, rape, and sexual assault. Law enforcement officers are also most likely to be attacked from 8pm to midnight, while 2 am is the time to stay off the roads due to an increase in “driving while impaired.” (FBI and Sleep Judge) Those who commit evil thrive under the cover of darkness.

     In Sacred Scripture, darkness often refers to evil acts, spiritual blindness, or the absence of wisdom. Darkness results in disorientation, distortion, and confusion. Lacking the ability to see the big picture, the children of darkness ravenously devour whatever they bump into. Frustrated, divisive competition reigns because there is never enough, no satisfaction. The soul is hungry and knows there is so much more. The children of darkness take from anyone and anything, predatory in their carnal desire.

     Light is associated with wisdom, clarity in action, truth, and unity. Note that the first thing that the Lord does to dispel pre-existent darkness is to create light. (Genesis 1:30) Jesus tells us that, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) St Paul writes,

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. ... Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them… (Ephesians 5:8–11)

     Children of light put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. No longer children of darkness, they walk reflecting the light of Christ with faith, hope, and above all, charity. Their minds are occupied with earthly things, but their citizenship is in heaven. (Philippians 3: 19-20)

     Given all this, why would Jesus praise the “prudence” of the people of the world, as opposed to the children of the light? Prudence is normally defined as discerning the good in any situation and choosing the correct means to accomplish it. The word in Luke 16: 8 translated as “prudence,” is from the Greek, phrŏnimŏs (φρόνιμος). Phrŏnimŏs has more to do with being ingenious than prudence. The Lord is praising the steward not for his dishonesty but for his ingenuity, his foresight.

     The steward’s objective is his own earthly survival. As St Paul writes, his god is in his stomach. (Philippians 3:19) He is incredibly clever in deriving a plan that enables his own survival. Are we, the children of the Light, equally as clever in living for heaven? Are we, who have been given the incredible gift of grace, eternal life with God in heaven, as dedicated to that end? It’s a very personal question!

     The Lord calls me to spread the Kingdom of God. He tells me to actively seek the salvation of souls through baptism and teaching the Gospel. (Matthew 28:29) He tells me that He will judge me on how I fed the hungry or offer refreshment to the thirsty. He calls me to welcome the stranger, the immigrant, the vagrant as I would welcome Him. He begs me to clothe the naked. He commands that I visit the sick and imprisoned. (Matthew 25:37–39) He calls me, He calls all of us, the Body of Christ, not to passively wait for a situation to arise but to have a plan of action to accomplish His mission for all of us. “For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 NABRE)

     Our Lord wants us to apply the same ingenuity and effort as the dishonest steward in growing the Kingdom of God. The fact that we can count on God’s grace does not in any way exempt us from the need to employ all legitimate human resources, even if that means strenuous effort and heroic sacrifice, to fulfill our work. We cannot be a bucket filled with grace which sits in a corner. That grace slowly evaporates from our lives. Instead, God impels us to use every faculty we can to work with ingenuity to becoming conduits of grace through which God’s love is realized in the world. St Josemaria Escriva writes.

“What zeal people put into their earthly affairs: dreaming of honors, striving for riches, bent on sensuality! Men and women, rich and poor, old and middle-aged and young and even children: all of them alike. When you and I put the same zeal into the affairs of our souls, we will have a living and working faith. And there will be no obstacle that we cannot overcome in our apostolic works” (St J. Escrivá, The Way, 317).

     As children of the light, we must devise and live up to an ingenious plan for heavenly success!

Endnotes:

Escrivá, St. J. (2008). The Way. In The Way; Furrow; the Forge (pp. xxiii–253). essay, Scepter Publishers.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), M. R. (2023). (rep.). UCR Summary of Crime in the Nation, 2022 (pp. 1–37). Cambridge, Maryland: Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Sleep Judge (Ed.). (2021, December 22). Crimes that happen while you sleep. The Sleep Judge. https://www.thesleepjudge.com/crimes-that-happen-while-you-sleep/