A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 12:13-21
13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." 14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions." 16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."' 20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' 21"This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God."
REFLECTION: " life does not consist in an abundance of possessions."
Jesus had just spoken to the crowd about the riches that await those who believe in him. And he was still preaching when someone shouted out about his inheritance. Really? People have not changed much from the time of Jesus to the present!! They don't listen but are just waiting to interject their question or opinion.
Jesus was talking about the possessions of the world taking us away from God as we are so preoccupied in getting and keeping and achieving that we forget that God has all the riches we want and need. Of course, we need possessions to live--home, food, clothing--but we should not be so possessed about how much we need or how much we should have gotten from an inheritance. We lose sight of the teaching by Jesus. One's life does not consist of possessions .
I grew up with St John Paul II. He was pope for 27 years from 1978 to 2005. We lived his life from his youthful papacy to his frail, Parkinsonian body. He showed us how to live, love and suffer all for God.
St John Paul II showed us what mattered most to God--a). that God created us out of love and will always give us His love. b) In spite of our present stage in our life, we matter to God and He will always take care of us. c) We are to forgive those who harm us and pray for their souls.
"Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one must not misuse it. " (St John Paul II). Let us remember that when we have the urge to do that which we know is inappropriate, that we first think about what we are to do and then not do it.
PRAYER: Dearest Lord, please keep us focused on you. Do not let our desire to accumulate erase your words of caring and love for one another . Amen
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