Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12,13-21.
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.”
He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?”
Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
Then he told them a parable. “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!”
But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”
Your money or your life
Peace to all my brothers and sisters listening in today
1 “Your money or your life” sums up today’s gospel message. It was also the question posed by a robber holding a gun in a famous joke told by Jack Benny, an old time comedian during his radio show. After several minutes of waiting for the answer, the robber again asked Jack, who was known for being stingy, “Your money or your life” to which he finally replied “I am thinking, I’m thinking”
It is said to have received the longest laugh time in radio history. It also speaks of the serious spiritual illness infecting the human heart which we are warned about in all three readings today. What is it in a word? Concupiscence- the insatiable greed or covetousness that our human nature tends toward as a consequence of the fall. It is the root cause of all our lustful addictions and inordinate attachments that divide our heart, making us ever anxious to acquire more and more, always chasing after more than we need.
2. Being more. St John Paul the II warned us not to get caught up in trying to have more but rather to be more. The danger here is that greed makes an idol and end of wealth, instead of seeing using it as a means to love others. Thinking happiness comes from storing up and accumulating material goods is a false and futile effort that can only lead to frustration and disappointment. We will spend our whole life trying to have it all only to find in the end thats all we have. Although rich, we will be empty. The truth is, finite things can never satisfy the desire of our souls for the Infinite; only God can do that. This lead CS Lewis to write: that which is not eternal is eternally useless. 3. Not about Me. Instead of being grateful to God, the giver of all gifts and being generous in helping others, the foolish man in the parable thinks only of himself. This is the tragedy of greed which allows people to starve on a planet that has a surplus of food. The problem is not a scarcity of food but an unwillingness to share. There are too many poor people to feed in world but rather there are too many selfish people who think only about themselves. Jesus have us life, life in abundance, not to be hoarded but like our love and all treasure, to be given away. Only in this way, by giving away our surplus and sharing our love and making ourselves a gift to others can we experience the gospel paradox- which teaches us it is better to give than receive. In this way we experience the miracle of divine mathematics The more we give our life and love away, the more we lose it, the more we will have. In this way we will become rich for God, storing up treasure for ourselves in heaven.
MAY God bless you in the name of the father the son and the Holy Spirit amen
Always remember Heaven is our goal!
