In today's Gospel, Jesus teaches us that in order for us to be trusted to handle big tasks of great importance, we must show that we can act responsibly with little tasks.
Come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts and our minds. Fill us with your peace, love, and understanding. Help us to hear God's message today and recognize His voice in our daily activities. Amen
Jesus said to his disciples: "The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones. If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth (i.e., money), who will trust you with true wealth (i.e., Heaven)? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon."
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPo-4_kbMgE (Attributed to Catholic Kids Media)
As a group, make a list of the jobs or chores the children are asked to do at home or at school. What happens if they do not do their job well? (Accept all answers.)
Ask what they might have done to earn their current responsibility. For example, are they now trusted to dust their living rooms because they handled the responsibility of cleaning their bedrooms? Are they trusted to play outside with less adult supervision because they have demonstrated their ability to observe the rules? (staying out of the street, staying in their own yards, and so on)
Say: As we grow up, our parents and teachers give us greater responsibilities. However, in order to continue to mature toward independence, we must show ourselves to be trustworthy in these responsibilities. In today's Gospel, we hear a parable that Jesus told about what it means to be trustworthy in the eyes of God.
Explain what the steward's job was and why the master thought him to be dishonest. (Perhaps he was not securing repayment of the master's money because he was charging too much interest). Explain how the dishonest steward earned praise by being more responsible about his job. (His job was to secure the rich man's money, not to secure his own wealth).
Invite the class to summarize what Jesus is saying in this last part of today's Gospel. Say: Jesus reminds his disciples that we show what we value most by our actions. If we are honest people, then we will be honest in all the things we do, large and small. Christians are challenged to act always in ways that demonstrate that we put God first in our lives.
Father in heaven, for the sake of bringing others closer to you, we give you today, all that we think and do and say, and we join it with all that was done by Jesus Christ, your Son. Amen
