CAN YOU BE TRUSTED?
Saturday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
Do you steal towels when you stay in a hotel? That’s not stealing, is it? They expect you to do that. It’s built into the price of the room.
Yeah, sure, how often do we hear that said by people who pack the towels into their bags? Maybe you have some of them at home now. Isn’t it American? It might be American, European, or a world-wide human trait. But if you’ve ever done it, don’t do it again. Don’t yield to the temptation. For to give into it is, without any shadow of a moral doubt, the taking of something you deep down know really isn’t desired by the management of the motel. It is stealing. That’s why they chain down the TV’s. But some people get away with those too, don’t they? Get used to taking little things and who knows what that will lead too. This is how Jesus treats the subject:
“If you can trust a man with little things, you can also trust him in greater; while anyone unjust in a slight matter is also unjust in greater.” Is Jesus suggesting that stealing towels could lead to stealing money?
“If you cannot be trusted with elusive wealth,” he says, “who will trust you with lasting? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s money, who will give you what is your own?” I think Jesus is against stealing at all levels.
Now what are we going to do with all those towels in our bathroom closets? How about saying 5 Hail Mary’s and 5 Our Fathers, and donating them to those who can’t afford to stay at motels.
