Homily for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, delivered (in the evening) in Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, Gladstone, Qld.

"Listen to this... you who say 'by lowering the bushel, raising the shekel, by swindling and tampering with the scales, we can buy up the poor for money, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and get a price even for the sweepings of the wheat.’..." (cf. Am 8:4-7).

"High above all nations is the Lord, above the heavens his glory. Who is like the Lord, our God, who has risen on high to his throne yet stoops from the heights to look down, to look down upon heaven and earth. From the dust he lifts up the lowly, from the dungheap he raises the poor to set him in the company of princes, yes, with the princes of his people." (cf. Ps 113).

"My advice is that, first of all, there should be prayers offered for everyone... there is only one God, and there is only one mediator... Christ Jesus, who sacrificed himself as a ransom for them all. He is the evidence of this, sent at the appointed time... In every place, then, I want the men to lift their hands up reverently in prayer, with no anger or argument." (cf. 1 Tim 2:1-8).

"Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There was a rich man and he had a steward denounced to him for being wasteful with his property... [In the end, however], the master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.'" (cf. Lk 16:1-13).

Artwork: "Last Judgement", by Stefan Lochner, (c. 1435).