Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said, “What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward. The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me? I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ He called in his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’ Then to another he said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’ And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”

The illusionist Eisenheim was a prudent man in many ways. He understood that he had to let his illusions speak for themselves, making no overt supernatural assertions, but letting his audience interpret for themselves, a tactic that only enhanced his mystical renown. It is also the tactic he used in order to accomplish what he wanted most, namely the future love of his life, Sophie von Teschen, a union that his status in society would never permit. At the same time, by his illusions, he was able to accomplish the overthrow of the formidable and powerful Crown Prince Leopold, the Austrian-Hungarian future emperor, who wanted Sophie to be his wife. In the process, Vienna's Chief Inspector Uhl, a man on the horns of a dilemma between being a good policeman and his own desire for glory, both applauded and unwittingly aided Eisenheim in his desires.  

Jesus' story about a steward who was able to accomplish what he wanted in life teaches us to be prudent in our use of material goods in light of an imminent personal crisis. The steward actually did nothing more than take his own commission off of the two debtors' bills, and therefore he did not harm his master, but at the same time, insured a future for his life. In effect, he uses his talents to obtain what he needed to have.

Such is the action of the magician Eisenheim in the movie "The Illusionist." He knew that what he wanted to do was right, both in his mind, and his fiancee's mind, and so he set out to use the talents that he had, namely, being a master of deception, to obtain the good end of marriage.

The message of both the story of Jesus and the movie is one of prudently using the gifts that we have to accomplish a good end. Like Eisenheim's method, we cannot do anything "bad" to accomplish such an end because a good end never justifies a bad means. But it may mean that we have to be "clever" or "resourceful" in bringing about the good. The word Jesus uses is "prudent." In effect, it means being totally aware of the situations in our lives in such a way that we will use them to accomplish good. Using the knowledge that we have to get a better position in life or the money we make to obtain more money or the influence we have to help someone else are all prudent ways to use the talents that we have. The guide, as it was for the steward in Jesus' story and for Eisenheim the illusionist, must be that we would do nothing to deliberately hurt anyone else in the process.                             

THOUGHT
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, your Son told the story about using the gifts that we have to accomplish some desired end, even though it may seem that we are not following the accepted rules of good living. Give us the grace to prudently use the gifts that you have given to us. Be with us, we pray.

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©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America