September 21, 2025
One of my management mentors once told me, “It is better to make a tough decision now and have a lousy day, than to be indecisive and have a whole year of sleepless nights.”
My parents also used to remind me and my eight siblings, “Why leave for tomorrow what you need to do today?”
Today’s Gospel about the parable of the dishonest steward is about precisely this—decisiveness. The steward finds himself in crisis. In the original Greek, crisis means “a moment of decision.” He acts decisively. Not perfectly, not even honestly—but prudently. He chooses relationships over isolation. And for that prudence, he is commended in the parable.
Jesus uses this story to teach us that discipleship requires decisive choices, not indecision. And those choices must not only be about private morality, but also about the society we build together.
A society that is built upon our relationship with God and the way we treat others, especially the weak, the vulnerable and the poor. The prophet Amos warns against those who “trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land.” He condemns merchants who exploit the vulnerable and cheat the scales. God’s response is not indifference—it is judgment. “Never will I forget a thing they have done,” says the Lord.
Jesus and Amos stand together in calling us to be prudent stewards of what God has entrusted: to choose justice now, especially for the most vulnerable among us. If we want peace and tranquility in our world, then we must stand in solidarity with those whose human dignity is disrespected.
We can see the urgency of this in our world today.
We hear troubling reports that current immigration enforcement efforts include stopping someone who looks like me, que habla Español, and demand various documents based simply on race, accent, job, or location. Think about that: good, hardworking people—our neighbors, coworkers, some of our parishioners, targeted and humiliated, not because of what they have done, but because of who they are or where they were born.
This is exactly what the prophet Amos denounced. This is what Jesus warns us against: systems that exploit, demean, and exclude. When we allow such injustices, when we look away or remain indecisive, we do more than hurt individuals—we poison the whole community. Inequity breeds resentment. Fear replaces trust. Violence follows despair.
But the Gospel calls us to act differently. To be prudent stewards means making investments in relationships, solidarity, and justice. It means asking ourselves: How do my choices—how I vote, how I speak up, how I treat the stranger—either build the reign of God or make it less visible?
Peace and tranquility will not come from silence, from indifference or from protecting our own comfort zones. They come when we choose to stand decisively with the vulnerable among us.
As the Catholic Church in the United States observes National Migration Week from September 22 to 28, we might consider:
- Saying “yes” to accompanying migrants who live in fear and “no” to policies that profile and demean them.
- Saying “yes” to our ongoing conversion by encountering the faces of migrants and refugees, hearing their stories, and engaging them directly.
- Saying “yes” to assisting Catholic social agencies that support lifesaving assistance for refugees around the world, and “no” to exploitation of issues related to migrants and refugees for political gain.
The dishonest steward, for all his faults, knew he could not live as if nothing had changed. He acted. So must we.
If we want peace, we must work for justice. If we want to live in God’s eternal community, we must live as sisters and brothers making God’s reign visible in community, now.
We come to the table of plenty, to the altar to be nourished and strengthened by our Lord who can help us discern better how we can be prudent, courageous, and decisive disciples of Jesus Christ as we address the current issues affecting individuals, families, and our country.
And may we continue being open to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and our blessed Mother’s protection as we continue our common journey as fellow companions in Christ. Amen.
Paulist Fr. René Constanza is President of the Paulist Fathers. He preached this homily on Sunday, September 21, 2025, at St. Austin Church in Austin, TX.