Daily Catholic Lectio
Sat, 8 Nov ‘25
Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time, Saturday
Romans 16:3–9, 16, 22–27. Luke 16:9–15
Renouncing the Riches
The Gospel today (Luke 16:9–15) presents one of Jesus’ most penetrating teachings — the call to renounce riches. He speaks of wealth in three different ways: “Use dishonest wealth to make friends”; “If you are not trustworthy with worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?”; and finally, “You cannot serve both God and wealth.” Each phrase deepens our understanding of the spiritual tension between possessing and belonging.
When Jesus speaks of “dishonest wealth,” He is not blessing corruption but reminding us that material riches are never neutral — they carry within them the temptation to possess rather than to serve. Wealth must be used, not worshipped. It can be a tool for compassion or an idol of control. The one who sees wealth as a servant of love transforms it into grace; the one who clings to it becomes its slave.
The “true riches,” Jesus says, are those that belong to the Kingdom — treasures that neither thief can steal nor moth destroy. These are the riches of faith, love, mercy, and the joy of belonging to God. What we hold in our hands may pass away; what we hold in our hearts will last forever. To possess the true riches, we must loosen our grip on the false ones.
The climax of Jesus’ message is clear: “You cannot serve God and wealth.” These two masters stand opposed. God asks for surrender; wealth asks for control. God calls us to share; wealth tempts us to store. God gives life through love; wealth promises life through possession — and fails. Renouncing riches, then, is not rejecting creation but reclaiming freedom. It is saying with our lives that ‘God alone is enough.’
In the first reading (Romans 16:3–9, 16, 22–27), Paul gives thanks for his companions — Priscilla, Aquila, and others who laboured with him in the Gospel. Their wealth was not in silver or gold but in service. They shared their homes, their hearts, their very lives. Through them, Paul reminds us that generosity is the truest sign of divine richness.
The Pharisees, Luke tells us, mocked Jesus because they were “lovers of money.” They equated prosperity with righteousness and influence with blessing. But Jesus unveils the truth: the value of a person is not measured by what they have, but by whom they serve.
To renounce riches, therefore, is to choose relationship over possession, mission over comfort, and God over gold. It is to make wealth a servant of mercy, not a master of the soul.
Let us then use what passes to secure what lasts — to turn the fleeting into the eternal, and in renouncing riches, to find in Christ the one treasure that can never be lost.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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