Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 10-17-05, Memorial, St Ignatius of Antioch, bishop & martyr

October 17, 2005
Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr

Psalm: Monday 45

Reading I
Rom 4:20-25

Brothers and sisters:
Abraham did not doubt God’s promise in unbelief;
rather, he was empowered by faith and gave glory to God
and was fully convinced that what God had promised
he was also able to do.
That is why it was credited to him as righteousness.
But it was not for him alone that it was written
that it was credited to him;
it was also for us, to whom it will be credited,
who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
who was handed over for our transgressions
and was raised for our justification.

Responsorial Psalm
Luke 1:69-70, 71-72, 73-75

R. (see 68) Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
He has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
R. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.

Gospel
Lk 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.”

Homily of the Day

Homily of the Day

Title:	How Much Is Enough?
Author:	Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Date:	Monday, October 17, 2005

Romans 4:20-25 / Lk 12:13-21

Today's gospel raises a perennial human question: how much is enough? And the answer as we usually feel it, even if we don't say it, is 'just a little bit more.' It's strange how that answer can be so consistent at every economic level: What would you like? What do you need? Just a little bit more. And what does that tell us? That there will never be enough to fill us full, as long as we look in the wrong places. The only one who can ever fill us full is the Lord, who made us for himself and who made our hearts to be satisfied by no one and no thing less than himself.

The rich man in the gospel was caught in that trap. His definition of success was very simply 'more.' So, when the harvest exceeded all his expectations, his response was to tear down his barns and build bigger ones to hold 'more.' On the one hand that seems so logical, but on the other, why tear down the barns, why not share the excess which he obviously didn't need and certainly hadn't expected?

This man was known as rich, but in fact he was poor, because he didn't know how to make the most of God's gifts. He didn't know that the greatest joy in having something is in being able to share it or even give it away. That's God-like joy, and it's the joy that God wants us to grow accustomed to now, because that kind of sharing of life is what heaven is all about.

The Word Among Us

Monday, October 17, 2005

Meditation
Luke 12:13-21

Jesus had just spoken at length to the crowd about essential matters of belief: knowing that we are beloved of the Father and have great worth in his eyes, and trusting our lives to the care and guidance of the Holy Spirit. And just then, someone interrupts. “Tell my brother to share with me,” he demands. It’s a wonder Jesus didn’t tear his hair out sometimes! Aside from its rudeness, the interruption portrays for us the kind of distractions that only keep us impoverished.

Jesus taught that it is not lack of material possessions that makes us poor. Rather, preoccupation with what and how much we have—and how to get more of it—impoverishes us. Why? Because it moves us to disregard the things that matter to God. It shifts our thoughts and efforts from serving the Creator and makes us slaves to created things instead. Jesus doesn’t say material possessions are bad or to be despised. He is clear, however, that “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15).

What are the things that matter to God? First, that we would know personally his love for us. He created us out of love, and he loves us always. He will always take care of us because we matter to him (Luke 12:7,24,30-31). Jesus died and was raised from the dead that we might experience and share in God’s life through his Holy Spirit. Confident in his love for us, we love and serve him by loving and serving others.

These are the things that matter to God (Matthew 22:36-39). We can steep ourselves in these riches! Every prayer time, we can tell God how much we love him. Better still, we can open our hearts and minds to receive his love. Every word of Scripture can become a treasure illustrating God’s immeasurable love for us and how we can respond to that love. Psalms and hymns and worshipful music throughout our day can draw us back to him, even if we listen for just a few minutes. Reading the lives of the saints or spiritual books, attending daily Mass—through all these ways, we can soak ourselves in the things that matter, storing up treasure that will last (Luke 12:33).

“Father, help me to keep focused on you today. Show me how to store up riches in heaven. I trust you to care for me and provide for me.”

Romans 4:20-25; (Psalm) Luke 1:69-75

Lk 12:13-21
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
13	And one of the multitude said to him: Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me.	ait autem quidam ei de turba magister dic fratri meo ut dividat mecum hereditatem
14	But he said to him: Man, who hath appointed me judge or divider over you?	at ille dixit ei homo quis me constituit iudicem aut divisorem super vos
15	And he said to them: Take heed and beware of all covetousness: for a man's life doth not consist in the abundance of things which he possesseth.	dixitque ad illos videte et cavete ab omni avaritia quia non in abundantia cuiusquam vita eius est ex his quae possidet
16	And he spoke a similitude to them, saying: The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits.	dixit autem similitudinem ad illos dicens hominis cuiusdam divitis uberes fructus ager adtulit
17	And he thought within himself, saying: What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?	et cogitabat intra se dicens quid faciam quod non habeo quo congregem fructus meos
18	And he said: This will I do: I will pull down my barns and will build greater: and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me and my goods.	et dixit hoc faciam destruam horrea mea et maiora faciam et illuc congregabo omnia quae nata sunt mihi et bona mea
19	And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thy rest: eat, drink, make good cheer.	et dicam animae meae anima habes multa bona posita in annos plurimos requiesce comede bibe epulare
20	But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee. And whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?	dixit autem illi Deus stulte hac nocte animam tuam repetunt a te quae autem parasti cuius erunt
21	So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.	sic est qui sibi thesaurizat et non est in Deum dives

One Bread, One Body

<< Monday, October 17, 2005 >>

St. Ignatius of Antioch

Romans 4:20-25

Luke 1:69-75

Luke 12:13-21

View Readings

"IN GOD WE TRUST"

"Then I will say to myself: You have blessings in reserve for years to come. Relax!" —Luke 12:19

Jesus called the rich farmer a "fool" for preparing his own future. Many in America are treading the same "wide road" as did the farmer (see Mt 7:13). Many in our nation and throughout the world do not interpret this scenario through the eyes of Jesus.

God knows we tend to rely on our own provision rather than His fathering. He has promised to always provide all that we need (see Mt 6:24-34). However, God knows how weak we are. He knows if we had a year's supply of food, we'd likely "relax" (Lk 12:19) and not think to turn to Him until our supply was running out. We would be forgetting God for months instead of growing in a constant, loving, trusting relationship with our Abba. That's why Jesus teaches us to only pray for what we need today (Mt 6:11).

We are fools when we trust in years of financial security instead of trusting in God (Lk 12:20). In the USA, our money contains the motto "In God we trust." Jesus, the Bible, and even our coins and paper dollars shout to us to trust in God alone. He has promised to supply all that we need (Phil 4:19; Mt 6:32-33). "What is needed is trust" (Mk 5:36).

Prayer: Father, I repent of being a fool with money. I decide to radically trust in You and be a fool for You (1 Cor 4:10).

Promise: Abraham "never questioned or doubted God's promise; rather, he was strengthened in faith and gave glory to God, fully persuaded that God could do whatever He had promised." —Rm 4:20-21

Praise: St. Ignatius trusted in God the most when awaiting his assigned martyrdom of being thrown to wild beasts for his faith.

A Voice in the Desert

October 17, 2005 Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading (Romans 4:20-25) Gospel (St. Luke 12:13-21)

Our Lord tells us in the Gospel reading that we have to guard against all forms of greed. Now this is an American problem. Obviously, it is a human problem, but an American one in a very specific way because there is so much materialism all around us and what we tend to do as Americans is to judge ourselves according to others by how much we have. That really is the wrong thing. It is an interesting point because it is actually one of the Planned Parenthood ways of trying to present things: If you have a number of children, you are only going to have a little bit of stuff and you are going to be poor and isn’t this going to be a rotten way to live; but if you only have one or two kids, you are going to have lots of money and you will have more material things and then life will be a whole lot easier for you. Well, it is interesting that in Scripture children are considered to be the riches and the blessing that God has given. In America, money is what seems to be the blessing. So we seem to have ourselves completely opposite of what God Himself has presented.

It is not that the money itself is something evil; as Saint Paul makes clear, it is love of money that is the root of all evil; it is that greed. This is something that as we get older especially we need to watch for. There is the old saying that “lust is the sin of the young and greed is the sin of the elderly.” We just simply shift our selfishness is really all that it comes down to. It is a matter of what form it is going to take, but it is all focused on the self. At the end of the Gospel reading, Jesus says, This is the way it will be for the man who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God. That, again, is what we have to make sure we are looking at. How much are we focused on ourselves? How much are we focused on God? The Lord makes clear to us that we have to store up treasure in heaven, not treasure on earth. It is all going to be left behind anyway, so what good is it going to do? Are we really happier because we have more things?

I always chuckle when I drive past these places that are springing up everywhere: storage places. You can rent a storage place and you can put all the things that you have accumulated because they do not all fit into your house, your garage, your basement, your shed, and every place else that you have to store your things. Now you can rent a garage specifically to store the overflow of all of your things. For what? You do not even look at them because they are stuffed away miles from your house. We are worse than squirrels burying things all over creation to see if they can come back and find them later. What good is it? What has it done to make anybody happy? It does not.

Saint Paul tells us that what was credited to Abraham as righteousness is also meant for us, and it has to do with our faith in God; not our faith in all of our materialism, not our faith in money, but our faith in God. There is no one to whom it has been credited as righteousness because they have accumulated more of the things of the world. And there is absolutely no one to whom it is credited as righteousness because they are selfish. That is exactly the opposite of charity, and we are created for the purpose of charity, for love.

So when we see what our society is presenting–selfishness and materialism and greed–we see that this is diametrically opposed to everything that God is about because He is about charity. He is about everything that is opposite of what is selfish. He wants us to have true freedom, and true freedom means to be free of all of the things that the world is offering. One of the things the saints tell us, in case we get worried about what we are going to do without all our junk, is that when you are detached from everything then you have everything because you have God, and absolutely everything exists within God. Nothing exists unless it exists within Him; therefore, everything is yours because you were willing to let go of everything, and God will provide it all for you.

As we look at that, we ask ourselves: Do we have the faith of Abraham who believed that the One Who made the promise was also able to carry it through? Do we really believe in God and in everything that He has promised? This is where it is not enough just to have that generic belief that God exists. We have to put it into practice, we have to pray for detachment, we have to work at getting rid of all of our selfishness and all of our greed, and not rent more storage space so we can store up treasure on earth, but we have to make sure that the real storehouse is the soul and that we are storing up for ourselves treasure in heaven.

* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.

From: Romans 4:20-25

The Example of Abraham (Continuation)

[20] No distrust made him (Abraham) waver concerning the promise of God,
but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, [21] fully convinced
that God was able to do what he had promised. [22] That is why his faith
was "reckoned to him as righteousness." [23] But the words, "it was
reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, [24] but for ours also.
It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus
our Lord, [25] who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our
justification.

Commentary:

24-25. The faith of which St Paul is speaking includes among its basic
truths the redemptive Death of Christ and his Resurrection, two events
which are indissolubly linked, two ways in which God's justice and mercy
are manifested.

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: Luke 12:13-21

Parable of the Rich Fool

[13] One of the multitude said to Him (Jesus), "Teacher, bid my brother
divide the inheritance with me." [14] But He said to him, "Man, who
made Me a judge or divider over you?" [15] And He said to them, "Take
heed, and beware of all covetousness; for man's life does not consist
in the abundance of his possessions." [16] And He told them a parable,
saying, "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; [17] and he
thought to himself, `What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my
crops?' [18] And he said, `I will do this: I will store all my grain
and my goods. [19] And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample
goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.'
[20] But God said to him, `Fool! This night your soul is required of
you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' [21] So is
he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."

Commentary:

13. This man is only interested in his own problems; he sees in Jesus
only a teacher with authority and prestige who can help sort out his
case (cf. Deuteronomy 21:17). He is a good example of those who
approach religious authorities not to seek advice on the way they
should go in their spiritual life, but rather to get them to solve
their material problems. Jesus vigorously rejects the man's
request--not because He is insensitive to the injustice which may have
been committed in this family, but because it is not part of His
redemptive mission to intervene in matters of this kind. By His word
and example the Master shows us that His work of salvation is not aimed
at solving the many social and family problems that arise in human
society; He has come to give us principles and moral standards which
should inspire our actions in temporal affairs, but not to give us
precise, technical solutions to problems which arise; to that end He
has endowed us with intelligence and freedom.

15-21. After His statement in verse 15, Jesus tells the parable of the
foolish rich man: what folly it is to put our trust in amassing
material goods to ensure we have a comfortable life on earth,
forgetting the goods of the spirit, which are what really ensure
us--through God's mercy--of eternal life.

This is how St. Athanasius explained these words of our Lord: "A person
who lives as if he were to die every day--given that our life is
uncertain by definition--will not sin, for good fear extinguishes most
of the disorder of our appetites; whereas he who thinks he has a long
life ahead of him will easily let himself be dominated by pleasures"
("Adversus Antigonum").

19. This man's stupidity consisted in making material possession his
only aim in life and his only insurance policy. It is lawful for a
person to want to own what he needs for living, but if possession of
material resources becomes an absolute, it spells the ultimate
destruction of the individual and of society. "Increased possession is
not the ultimate goal of nations nor of individuals. All growth is
ambivalent. It is essential if man is to develop as a man, but in a
way it imprisons man if he considers it the supreme good, and it
restricts his vision. Then we see hearts harden and minds close, and
men no longer gather together in friendship but out of self-interest,
which soon leads to strife and disunity. The exclusive pursuit of
possessions thus becomes an obstacle to individual fulfillment and to
man's true greatness. Both for nations and for individual, avarice is
the most evident form of underdevelopment" ([Pope] Paul VI, "Populorum
Progressio", 19).

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.