Eighth Sunday After Pentecost.
The Unjust Steward.
"Make unto you friends of the Mammon of iniquity that when you shall fail they may receive you into everlasting dwellings." — Luke xvi. 9.
SYNOPSIS.
Ex.: I. Difficulty of parable. II. Israelites and Rebecca. III. Four principles.
I. His unconcern: 1. Sense of ownership. 2. All are stewards. 3. No thought of morrow.
II. His sudden call : 1. Informers. 2. Warning unheeded. 3. Death of worldling.
III. His device : 1. Effort, temporal and spiritual. 2. Master's praise. 3. Wisdom, earthly, heavenly.
Per. : Parable of St. John Damascene.
SERMON.
Brethren, more than one eminent interpreter of the Scriptures has been forced to confess that of all the parables of Our Lord this one of the unjust steward offers the gravest difficulties. Even the profoundly erudite Cajetan gave it up in despair, and to the great Cardinal commentator, you know, every theologian carries his doubts and perplexities. The chief fault to be found with the many ingenious or false or absurd explanations proposed is, that they try to evolve more meaning out of Our Lord's words than their Author intended them to convey. In their eagerness to establish a perfect similitude, they make all parallel impossible, for from the fact, for instance, that his master commended the unjust steward, it cannot be concluded that God could ever approve of
