32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you his domain. 33 Sell your possessions and give alms. Make yourselves a treasure that will never perish, a treasure that thieves cannot steal and moths cannot destroy. 34 For your treasure is a reflection of your being.

35 Be dressed for work. 36 Be like people waiting for their master until he returns from his wedding, so that they can open the door for him when he arrives. 37 Bravo for those servants whom the master finds waiting for him! Truly, I assure you, he will put on his apron and have them sit down at the table to serve them. 38 And if he happens to return in the middle of the night or in the early hours of the morning, bravo for those servants whom the master finds at work.

39 Another example. If a homeowner had known what time a burglar would come, he would have taken action to prevent the break-in. 40 So be ready, for the new Adam will come at an hour you do not know.

41 Peter then asked Jesus, "Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?" 42 The Lord replied, "Who then is the faithful and shrewd steward, whom the master will put in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 Bravo for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly, I assure you, he will appoint him over many things that belong to him. 45 But if that servant begins to think that his master is delayed and starts to be harsh toward the men and women under his care, and he parties and gets drunk, 46 then when his master returns on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know, he will remove him from his staff and make him join the group of unbelievers. 47 In short, the servant who knew his master's will but did not prepare to respond to it will be punished accordingly.

48 In conclusion, the one who did not know the master's will and did not behave as desired will be punished only a little. On the other hand, whoever has been given much will be required to give much in return, and whoever has been entrusted with much will be required to give even more."

What makes us respond appropriately to life events?

A recent event in Quebec has prompted me to reflect on this issue. Once upon a time, there was a state-owned company that wanted to digitize all its business processes with an integrated system. As architect, they appointed a man who had managed the digital transformation of another state-owned company. In the latter case, things had gone very badly, but it was assumed that the man had learned from his mistakes and would succeed this time. But it was a disaster: six years after the project was launched with a projected budget of hundreds of millions of Canadian dollars, and at the time of delivery of phase 2, it was revealed that the final cost would be more than one billion Canadian dollars, a cost overrun of 70%, and all this to deliver a system that was not fully reliable, with phase 1 functioning at only 10% efficiency. Politically, it was a scandal, because the ruling class had never been informed of the cost overruns. One could say that there is nothing new under the sun and that this is typical of large public sector IT projects. But I would like to look with you at some details about human behavior in this project that can serve as context for today's Gospel.

Let's start with the architect. As soon as he was appointed project manager, what did he do? He appointed all his friends to key positions, particularly those who had been in his entourage in his previous job. Among these friends, some were responsible for gathering requirements and then also acted as advisors and experts to the bid selection committee. From the outset, these friends had a preference for one of the consortia among the bidders, because it was with this consortium that they had worked with the architect on the previous project. Once the contract was awarded to the consortium targeted by these friends, what happened to them? They were hired as external consultants by the consortium. And mysteriously, the initial hourly wages quadrupled.

Let's continue with the board of directors (BOD) of the state-owned company, the project's watchdog. Of course, the architect, a brilliant and convincing man, is trusted. But throughout the project, the internal auditors begin to sound the alarm. They report amendments to increase project budgets, the amounts being deliberately limited to avoid going to tender. They are told by the BOD, "It won't stop the earth from turning." When cost overruns accumulate, an auditor asks to meet in person with the chair of the BOD. The chair receives her curtly and forbids her from spreading the news; and the auditor is transferred to another administrative position. And then there is the issue of contract compliance. When an internal auditor finally meets with the CEO of the state-owned company after a seven-month wait, she is given a frosty reception with the message: "Don't rock the boat."

This whole story provides a context for today's Gospel. It is worth noting that the Catholic liturgy offers us a surprising division of verses. Indeed, our pericope begins in a sapiential atmosphere with the last part of Jesus' teaching on the use of goods and includes the exhortation to believers to imitate the birds of the sky and the lilies of the field, who do not worry about tomorrow, and ends here with the exhortation to fear nothing, but to seek first the Kingdom and sell one's possessions. Then, our pericope continues in an apocalyptic atmosphere with another exhortation addressed to believers, that of remaining vigilant, illustrated by two stories, one with a positive note, that of watching to wait for one's master to open the door for him, no matter how long the wait, and a story with a negative note, that of watching to prevent the burglary of one's house. Then, the recipients of Jesus' teaching change to become community leaders with the question of one of them: Peter. Jesus then presents us with the criteria for a good shepherd, someone who is reliable and shrewd and knows how to give the members of the community what they need; these criteria are illustrated by two attitudes, positive and negative. Finally, this response to Peter ends with a first conclusion referring to the negative attitude: punishment will be proportional to what one knew to be one's responsibility; then, a second conclusion referring to the positive attitude: to those who have been entrusted with much responsibility and have proven themselves worthy, even more will be entrusted.

We are faced with a potpourri of sapiential and apocalyptic teachings. Is there any way to find a certain logic in them, and above all, a certain relevance for today? Let us immediately address the apocalyptic question of Jesus' return, which is predicted for the end of time. This question preoccupied the first generations of Christians, no doubt as a result of Jesus' conviction that his departure would not be final, and the general feeling that the end of time was near. But as time went on and the end of time did not come, people began to reinterpret this return as having already taken place, as evidenced by the evangelist John and, in a way, Luke, with his account of the ascension, which is a form of Jesus' insertion into our lives through his living spirit. In this context, what does it mean to "wait for the Lord"? It means being open to all the events of one's life as a place where one is called to respond with the same spirit as the one who walked the roads of Galilee; it is therefore the conviction that there is no such thing as a trivial event, and for the believer, it is the conviction that the risen Jesus who dwells in me invites me to act constantly with his spirit. When the Gospel story speaks of having our loins girded and our lamps lit, i.e., being ready for work at any hour of the day or night, it simply asks us to have this gaze of faith at all times in order to discern in all the events of our lives, no matter the moment or place, a call that often boils down to knowing how to love in the same spirit as Jesus. When the Gospel story speaks of being vigilant against the thief, it simply affirms that we must be clear-headed that we will be subjected to various pressures, without being able to predict when and in what forms, attacking our convictions and judging them ridiculous; we must be prepared to go against the tide.

In our story, following Peter's question, Jesus addresses the issue of community leaders who have the mission of providing for the needs of each member, which is the definition of a steward. A steward is an administrator, therefore someone who serves others. Note the attributes in Jesus' words: faithful, therefore reliable, then the Greek word phronimos, which I have translated as "shrewd," the same term found in the parable of the "unjust steward" (Lk 16:8) who got himself out of the impasse of accountability and about whom Jesus says: "For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light"; the word "shrewd" is used by Matthew to describe the serpent (Matthew 16:10). To be shrewd is to show intelligence, lucidity, skill, and insight. The community leader "awaits the Lord" by considering each moment of his mission as the exercise of a delegation from the risen Jesus and a call to display the qualities of reliability and shrewdness.

We are left with one last question to resolve. Why does our pericope, according to the liturgical division, begin with an exhortation concerning possessions or riches? What is the connection with the eschatological exhortations? The key is given to us in this sentence: "For where your treasure is, there also is your heart." In other words, our attention and the direction of our lives will be marked by what we consider important. Thus, we will only notice events that are in accordance with our values and we will act according to the direction we have given to our lives. Let us not be confused by expressions such as "sell what you have" and "make treasure for yourselves in heaven." First of all, the early Christian communities in Jerusalem tried to put this exhortation into practice literally, which was disastrous: they fell into complete destitution, so much so that St. Paul had to take the initiative of collecting funds in Greece to help them. The idea is rather not to make enrichment the goal of one's life, or at least an important value. Why? Because then we are no longer free to be totally open to life's events and respond to them appropriately, because our concerns lie elsewhere. The riches referred to are not limited to money, but also include personal riches such as reputation, importance, honor, and glory.

Is everything that has just been said merely theoretical? Let's return to our initial situation. Why did the board of directors fail in its role as watchdog? When you want everything to look good and remain on good terms with senior management, you will be unable to pick up on certain warning signs because you don't want to see them. It would have been different if the core value had been the common good and concern for the interests of the population. I am reminded of Mariana's story. She had gone on vacation to the Dominican Republic with friends. On the first night, a young woman who had just been hired as a sports instructor for the vacationers came to greet them. When asked if she liked her job, she replied that she did, even though her team leader was strange because he made advances toward her and had tried to kiss her. Mariana immediately jumped in with the words, "You have to report him!" But the young woman wanted to wait and see if it would happen again before taking action, especially since she didn't want to lose her job. But Mariana put herself in the shoes of the other potential victims who had remained silent and carried this shame in silence too. After discussion, it was decided to go and see the head of the holiday club's activities. A few days later, it was learned that the team leader had been fired, as this was the seventh complaint against him. Marianna had responded appropriately to the warning she had perceived because she was able to put herself in the shoes of the victim and all the other victims.

In the IT fiasco, there were all the architect's friends who had dipped their hands into the candy dish. Could they react properly and make the right decisions? No, their interests and greed did not give them the freedom they needed to see the warning signs that the project was going off the rails. The same was true of the architect, whose honor was at stake and who had every interest in showing that the sky was blue: he did not have the necessary perspective to read the signs of what was happening.

The first generations of Christians hoped for the return of Jesus during their lifetime and considered their daily lives as preparation for the reunion. Today, we know that this return has already taken place through the spiritual presence of the risen Jesus in every person of good will. The only way to experience his presence is to open ourselves to the many events of our lives, big and small, and to live them with the same spirit that was his. And to experience this encounter, we must be free, totally free, with no other interest than to truly love and care for others. From then on, no event in our lives is trivial.

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-André Gilbert, Gatineau, June 2025