POPE FRANCIS ON THE UNJUST STEWARD. NO TO BRIBES, KICKBACKS AND CORRUPTION!

Dear friends, below you’ll find Pope Francis’ Homily on St. Luke account on the unjust steward (Lk 16:1-8), where he invited all those who were present “to ask the Lord to change the hearts of those who are devoted to the goddess of bribery” in order that “they might understand that dignity comes from noble work, from honest work, from daily work, and not from the easy road which in the end strips you of everything”. For when they face death, he said, “these poor people who lose their dignity through the practice of bribery do not take with them the money they earned; they only take their lack of dignity. Let us pray for them”.

+++ST. LUKE’S ACCOUNT ON THE UNJUST STEWARD (Lk 16: 1-8)
AND POPE FRANCIS’ HOMILY ON THE DIRTY BREAD OF CORRUPTION. CAPS MINE+++

He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.  And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.”  And the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that people may receive me into their houses when I am put out of the stewardship.’  So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’  Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ The master commended the dishonest steward for his prudence; for the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light.”

POPE FRANCIS’ HOMILY:
Dirty bread of corruption Friday, 8 November 2013 (by L’Osservatore Romano, Weekly ed. in English, n. 46, 15 November 2013)

The Holy Father began: “The Lord speaks to us again about the spirit of the world, about worldliness: how this worldliness works and how perilous it is. In his prayer after the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, Jesus besought the Father not to allow his disciples to fall into worldliness”.

“The master praises the dishonest steward in the Gospel”, the Pope continued. “HE IS PRAISING BRIBERY. THE HABIT OF BRIBES AND KICKBACKS IS A WORLDLY AND EXTREMELY SINFUL HABIT…. GOD COMMANDED US TO BRING HOME BREAD THROUGH HONEST WORK”. INSTEAD “THIS STEWARD WAS GIVING DIRTY BREAD TO HIS CHILDREN TO EAT. AND HIS CHILDREN, WHO PERHAPS WERE EDUCATED IN EXPENSIVE UNIVERSITIES AND WERE RAISED IN VERY CULTURED CIRCLES, WERE FED DIRT BY THEIR FATHER. FOR IN BRINGING HOME UNCLEAN BREAD, THEIR FATHER LOST HIS DIGNITY. AND THIS IS A GRAVE SIN. IT MIGHT START WITH A SMALL BRIBE, BUT IT IS LIKE A DRUG”.

However, the Holy Father noted, there is another road, an alternative route to worldly cunning. It is the path of “Christian cleverness”. This path, he said, “allows us to be cunning but not according to the spirit of the world. Jesus himself said it: be wise as serpents, innocent as doves”. Uniting these two realities is a grace and a gift of the Holy Spirit, the Pope said. “This Christian cleverness is a gift; it is a grace that the Lord gives to us. But we need to ask for it”.

The Holy Father concluded by inviting all of those present “TO ASK THE LORD TO CHANGE THE HEARTS OF THOSE WHO ARE DEVOTED TO THE GODDESS OF BRIBERY” IN ORDER THAT “THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND THAT DIGNITY COMES FROM NOBLE WORK, FROM HONEST WORK, FROM DAILY WORK, AND NOT FROM THE EASY ROAD WHICH IN THE END STRIPS YOU OF EVERYTHING”. For when they face death, he said, “these poor people who lose their dignity through the practice of bribery do not take with them the money they earned; they only take their lack of dignity. Let us pray for them”.