Today's Gospel reading, which follows 'the Parable of the Dishonest Steward', challenges us to examine our use of material possessions. Do we, as disciples of Jesus, make prudent use of money for greater sharing with the needy ones around us.

St. Ambrose said: "You are not giving the poor person the gift of a part of what is yours; you are returning to him something of what is his."

How true this is since all that we have belongs to God. What we have is given to us in trust so that we may continue to share.

Like the Pharisees who consider wealth as God's reward for their religiosity and piety, we also see this today among Christians, who think of wealth as 'blessings' from God; hence accumulation of wealth is permissible. Yet we must examine if such blessings should be shared, especially with the poor and the marginalised in our society.

In the first reading, we see Paul, who was in prison, relied on the assistance of friends, and he took the opportunity to thank them for their support on several occasions.

As Christian disciples, do we share what we have or do we have the tendency to accumulate or hoard as we are reluctant to part with what we have with the needy ones around.