Catholic Calendar for Sunday, August 1, 2010
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23
Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
Luke 12:13-21
A reflection on today's Scripture:
How many times have we heard this Gospel about the rich man?
It seems to be addressed especially to all of us whose closets are bulging with clothes that they haven't used in years, and gadgets that have long outlived their usefulness. It speaks to people who haven't the courage to give away what they don't need, or to donate them to a worthy cause. Possessions can choke our souls to death!
In today's Gospel, Jesus gets a request from a person in the crowd whose relative won't share an inheritance. He wants the Master to intervene! Jesus, reading the man's heart, utters a great teaching: "Avoid greed in all its forms."
Then He tells a great story about the foolish rich man who is a real "pack rat." Rather than give his excess wealth away to worthy causes, he decides to build a huge storage barn to hold it all. He never pauses to ask himself what God might have to say about all his wealth. He just decides to hoard it all. And God says to him, "You fool! You are going to die this very night! And who will inherit all this wealth of yours?"
The first reading from that great Wisdom book, Ecclesiastes, puts it in words that are so familiar to us: "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity!" In other words, what a waste is a lifetime spent in accumulating wealth. If we don't share it with those who have less, it's just empty whistling down the wind!
The second reading from St. Paul to the Colossians tells us how to avoid all this foolish preoccupation with riches. "Seek the things that are above, where Christ is . . . Think of what is above, not on things that are on earth." In other words, the Lord is saying, "Just keep your eyes, your thoughts, and your heart attached to Me, and you will never lose sleep at night over all those bulging closets."
~ Msgr. Paul Whitmore | email: pwhitmore29@yahoo.com
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