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From: Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23

All is Vanity

[2] Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

To work for prestige is to work without purpose

[21] [B]ecause sometimes a man must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did
not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. [22] What has a man from all the
toil and strain with which he toils beneath the sun? [23] For all his days are full of
pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his mind does not rest. This al-
so is vanity.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

1:1-2. The book begins and ends with the same words: “Vanity of vanities…” (v.
2; cf. 12:8). The phrase sums up wonderfully well the central idea of the book
and is the sacred author’s assessment of the things of the world and the fruits of
human endeavour, included among the latter being the acquisition of a superficial
type of knowledge or wisdom that is clearly at odds with what we know from ex-
perience. The Hebrew root of the word translated as “vanity” means something
like the “vapour”, “air”, and conveys the idea of something with no consistency
to it, illusion, unreality. Some scholars link it to another root that means “flee-
ting”, “evanescent”, in the sense of something that man cannot grasp, and that
is certainly an aspect of what the author is saying throughout the book. “Vanity
of vanities” is the Hebrew form of the superlative, as in “Song of Songs”, On the
Preacher, Qoheleth, see the “Introduction”, p. 257, above.

When reading this book it is useful to bear in mind that the author is a Jewish
teacher, very familiar with the Law and the wisdom tradition of Israel, which, in
reaction to the arrival in Judea of various currents of Greek thought, was asking
itself very seriously about the validity of its own answers about the value of hu-
man actions and the rewards or punishments that applied to them; could it be
that the hedonistic ideas (which took no account of God) being put forward by
Greek philosophers in the squares and streets – could these have some validity?
The Preacher takes issue with both traditional wisdom and the Greeks. With a
great deal of common sense, he questions all these teachings (which were wide-
ly accepted) and concludes that they are approaching the subject in the wrong
way. It is not that he is skeptical about the human mind’s ability to know reality;
what he objects to is the failure of seekers after wisdom to go to the root of the
problem: “The book of Ecclesiastes explains that exactly things are made of,
and shows and makes clear to us the vanity of many of the things of the world,
so that we might come to understand that the passing things of this life are not
worth hungering for, and that we should not devote our attention to useless things
or fix our desires on any creating thing” (St. Basil, In principium Proverbiorum, 1).

1:3-6:12. The first part of the book is devoted to showing that the type of wisdom
man is bent on acquiring is of no use at all. To do this, it points out that if one
looks around, one gets the impression that everything in the world forms part of
one continuous cyclical movement in which one can never expect anything new
to happen: things that seem new are not new at all (1:3-11). It goes on to argue,
from experience, that the search for wisdom serves no purpose, for the wise
man’s lot remains unchanged, no matter what he learns (1:12-2:26). To compound
his argument, the Preacher goes on to report what he has seen — fraud and loneli-
ness . . . And from his observation of things around him, he draws a similar con-
clusion: this, too, is vanity and a waste of effort (3:1-4:16). That being so, in a se-
ries of counsels (5:1-12) he expounds the key lesson of the book: “Do you fear
God” (5:7). In other words, if one does not take God into account, even riches
bring only evils (5:13-6:7). That being the case, what advantages does wisdom of-
fer (6:8-12)? In this way the teacher of Israel, using a rhetoric similar to that of his
Hellenist adversaries, composes a diatribe to show that the reasonable thing to
do is to put one’s trust in God, for all the wisdom of this world is in vain.

Both of these notions – true wisdom and the fear of God – will be perfected in the
New Testament message. True wisdom is in “Christ, in whom are had all the trea-
sures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:2-3). And the fear of God should be under-
stood as love, not servile fear, because God is our Father. That conviction should
govern what we do: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For
fear has to do with punishment and he who fears is not perfected in love (1 Jn 4:
18).

2:12-23. Continuing with his argument, the Preacher lists some examples of how
impossible it is to attain happiness by following the paths of mere human exper-
ience. Now he takes up another matter, also to do with traditional wisdom: the
idea that the prospect of descendants makes a man happy, because they will ap-
preciate all the work he has done and will benefit from it (cf. Prov 10:7; Sir 44:9).
Seemingly the wise man thinks that that gives meaning to what he does and he
derives satisfaction from it (vv. 14a-b). But as the sacred writer sees it, this also
is vanity: wise man and fool, “the one fate comes to all of them” (v. 14c). There-
fore the thought of posterity is sheer vanity, for both wise man and fool will be for-
gotten (vv. 15-16). So, life seems, in fact, hateful and depressing (v. 20). Indeed,
all striving after these things leads nowhere (vv. 22-23).

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11

Seek the Things That Are Above

[1] If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are
above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Avoid Sin

[2] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on
earth. [3] For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
[4] When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with
Him in glory. [5] Put to death therefore what is earthly in you:
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is
idolatry. [9] Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off
the old
nature with its practices [10] and have put on the new nature, which is
being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. [11] Here
there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian,
Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

1-4. The more ethical and exhortatory part of the letter begins at this
point. It is a practical application of the teaching given in the
earlier chapters, designed to suit the circumstances that have arisen
in the Colossian church.

By His death and resurrection the Son of God frees us from the power of
Satan and of death. “By Baptism men are grafted into the paschal
mystery of Christ; they die with him, are buried with Him, and rise
with Him” (Vatican II, “Sacrosanctum Concilium”, 6). In other words,
Christians have been raised to a new kind of life, a supernatural life,
whereby they share, even while on earth, in the glorious life of the
risen Jesus. This life is at present spiritual and hidden, but when
our Lord comes again in glory, it will become manifest and glorious.

Two practical consequences flow from this teaching—the need to seek
the “things that are above”, that is, the things of God; and the need
to pass unnoticed in one’s everyday work and ordinary life, yet to do
everything with a supernatural purpose in mind.

As regards the first of these the Second Vatican Council has said: “In
their pilgrimage to the Heavenly city Christians are to seek and relish
the things that are above (cf. Colossians 3:1-2): this involves not a
lesser, but a greater commitment to working with all men to build a
world that is more human” (”Gaudium Et Spes”, 57). Work, family
relationships, social involvements—every aspect of human affairs—
should be approached in a spirit of faith and done perfectly, out of
love: “The true Christian, who acts according to this faith”, Monsignor
Escriva comments, “always has his sights set on God. His outlook is
supernatural. He works in this world of ours, which he loves
passionately; he is involved in all its challenges, but all the while
his eyes are fixed on Heaven” (”Friends of God”, 206).

Ordinary life, everyday interests, the desire to be better and to serve
others without seeking public recognition of one’s merits—all this
makes for holiness if done for love of God. A simple life “hid with
Christ in God” (verse 3) is so important that Jesus Himself chose to
spend the greater part of His life on earth living like an ordinary
person: He was the son of a tradesman. “As we meditate on these
truths, we come to understand better the logic of God. We come to
realize that the supernatural value of our life does not depend on
accomplishing great undertakings suggested to us by our over-active
imagination. Rather it is to be found in the faithful acceptance
of God’s will, in welcoming generously the opportunities for small,
daily sacrifice” ([St] J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 172).

This means that those who try to seek holiness by imitating Jesus in
His hidden life will be people full of hope; they will be optimistic
and happy people; and after their death they will share in the glory
of the Lord: they will hear Jesus’ praise, “Well done, good and
faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little; I will set you
over much; enter into the joy of your Master” (Matthew 25:21).

On the value of the hidden life, see the note on Luke 2:15.

5-17. The Christian, who in Baptism has risen with Christ, should not
live for himself but for God. This means that every day he needs to put
off his old nature and put on the new.

The “old nature”, the “old man”: one who lets himself be led by
disorderly passions (cf. Rom 7:8), who lets his body do evil in the
service of sin (v. 5; cf. Rom 6:12f). With the help of grace the old
nature is being more and more broken down, while the new nature is
constantly being renewed (cf. 2 Cor 6:16). Impurity and the other vices
need to be uprooted so as to make room for goodness and its train of
Christian virtues (vv. 12-13), especially charity (v. 14), which are
features of the new nature.

Christ’s disciple, who has been made a new person and who lives for the
Lord, has a new and more perfect knowledge of God and of the world
(v. 10). Thanks to this he see things from a more elevated viewpoint;
he has a “supernatural insight”. This enables him to love and
understand everyone without distinction of race, nation or social
status (v. 11), and to imitate Christ, who has given himself up for
all. “The Only-begotten of the Eternal Father vouchsafed to become a
son of man, that we might be made conformable to the image of the Son
of God and be renewed according to the likeness of him who created us.
Therefore let all those who glory in the name of Christians not only
look upon our divine Savior as the most sublime and most perfect model
of all virtues, but also, by the careful avoidance of sin and the
unremitting practice of holiness, so reproduce in their conduct his
teaching and life, that when the Lord appears they may be like to him
in glory, seeing him as he is (cf. 1 Jn 3:2)” (Pius XII, “Mystici
Corporis”, 20).

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States

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 co-
vetousness; 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 tea-
cher 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 sal
vation 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, techni-
cal solutions to problems which arise; to that end He has endowed us with intel-
ligence 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 posses-
sion 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 har-
den 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 pos-
sessions 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” (Paul VI, “Populorum Progressio”, 19).

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

Ecclesiastes 1:2,2:21-23 ©

Vanity of vanities, Qoheleth says. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity!

For so it is that a man who has laboured wisely, skilfully and successfully must leave what is his own to someone who has not toiled for it at all. This, too, is vanity and great injustice; for what does he gain for all the toil and strain that he has undergone under the sun? What of all his laborious days, his cares of office, his restless nights? This, too, is vanity.

EITHER:

Psalm

Psalm 89:3-6,12-14,17 ©

You turn men back to dust

and say: ‘Go back, sons of men.’

To your eyes a thousand years

are like yesterday, come and gone,

no more than a watch in the night.

You sweep men away like a dream,

like the grass which springs up in the morning.

In the morning it springs up and flowers:

by evening it withers and fades.

Make us know the shortness of our life

that we may gain wisdom of heart.

Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever?

Show pity to your servants.

In the morning, fill us with your love;

we shall exult and rejoice all our days.

Let the favour of the Lord be upon us:

give success to the work of our hands.

OR:

Psalm

Psalm 94:1-2,6-9 ©

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

Come, ring out our joy to the Lord;

hail the rock who saves us.

Let us come before him, giving thanks,

with songs let us hail the Lord.

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

Come in; let us bow and bend low;

let us kneel before the God who made us:

for he is our God and we

the people who belong to his pasture,

the flock that is led by his hand.

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

O that today you would listen to his voice!

‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,

as on that day at Massah in the desert

when your fathers put me to the test;

when they tried me, though they saw my work.’

O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’

Second reading

Colossians 3:1-5,9-11 ©

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.

That is why you must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life: fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god; and never tell each other lies. You have stripped off your old behaviour with your old self, and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its creator; and in that image there is no room for distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised or the uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free man. There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.

Gospel Acclamation

Jn17:17

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your word is truth, O Lord:

consecrate us in the truth.

Alleluia!

Or

Mt5:3

Alleluia, alleluia!

How happy are the poor in spirit:

theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 12:13-21 ©

A man in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.’ ‘My friend,’ he replied, ‘who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?’ Then he said to them, ‘Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.’

Then he told them a parable: ‘There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” But God said to him, “Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?.” So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.

The Light of Faith (Lumen Fidei)[Catholic Caucus]

Year of Faith: Does God Command Evil Actions in the Bible? Part II (Part I linked
Francis "Lights" Up – Pope's First Encyclical Due Friday
Pope: Homily at Mass for Evangelium Vitae Day [full text]
Adoration with Pope energizing Catholics worldwide
Parishes Worldwide Prepare for Eucharistic Adoration Hour (June 2 at 11 am ET)
Pope [Francis] at Pentecost: Newness, harmony and mission
Audience: Do not be ‘part-time’ Christians
Pope Francis: Regina caeli
Pope to welcome 70,000 youths, confirm 44 (this Sunday) [Catholic Caucus]
Pope Francis’ General Audience focused on women. Feminists aren’t going to be happy

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's "Letter On the Year of Faith" (Crossing Threshold of Faith)
Pope Francis – the real deal – has Audience with Cardinals
Benedict XVI's Final General Audience
On Ash Wednesday
On God As Creator of Heaven and Earth
On Abraham's Faith
On Christ As Mediator Between God and Man
On the Incarnation
On God the Almighty Father
Year of Faith: Indulgences and Places of Pilgrimage [Ecumenical]
On the Identity of Jesus

On the Faith of Mary, the Virgin Mother of Christ
Father Cantalamessa's 1st Advent Sermon (Catholic Caucus)
On The Unfolding of God's Self-Revelation
On the Beauty of God's Plan of Salvation
On Bearing Witness to the Christian Faith
On the Splendor of God's Truth
On the Knowledge of God
Archbishop Chaput says Year of Faith holds solution to relativism
Following the Truth: The Year Of Faith – 10 Things You Should Know [Catholic Caucus]
Papal Encyclical on Faith Announced

On the Desire for God
On the Ecclesial Nature of Faith
On the Nature of Faith
Catechism's benefits explained for Year of Faith (Catholic Caucus)
A Life of Faith: Papal Theologian Speaks on the Grace of Faith
ASIA/LAOS - "Year of Faith" amid the persecutions of Christians forced to become "animists"
From no faith to a mountain-top of meaning: Father John Nepil (Catholic Caucus)
Living the Year of Faith: How Pope Benedict Wants You to Begin [Catholic Caucus]
Share Your Faith in This Year of Faith: Two keys to help you do it.
On A New Series of Audiences for The Year of Faith

Pope will deliver year-long teaching series on restoring faith
Pope Benedict XVI Grants Plenary Indulgence to Faithful [Catholic Caucus]
Pope, at Marian shrine, entrusts Year of Faith, synod to Mary (Catholic Caucus)
Catholic Church Calls for Public Prayers in Offices on Fridays
Highlights in the Plan for Year of Faith: Traditional Events Will Take on Special Perspective
Catholic Church calls for public prayers in offices on Fridays
Vatican Unveils Logo for Year of Faith [Catholic Caucus]
Miami Prelate Recalls Pope's Visit to Cuba, Looks to Year of Faith [Catholic Caucus]
The World-Changing Year of Faith [Catholic Caucus]
Vatican to Issue Recommendations for Celebrating Year of Faith

Perpetual Novena for the Nation (Ecumenical)

Prayers for The Religion Forum (Ecumenical)

Jesus, High Priest

We thank you, God our Father, for those who have responded to your call to priestly ministry.

Accept this prayer we offer on their behalf: Fill your priests with the sure knowledge of your love.

Open their hearts to the power and consolation of the Holy Spirit.

Lead them to new depths of union with your Son.

Increase in them profound faith in the Sacraments they celebrate as they nourish, strengthen and heal us.

Lord Jesus Christ, grant that these, your priests, may inspire us to strive for holiness by the power of their example, as men of prayer who ponder your word and follow your will.

O Mary, Mother of Christ and our mother, guard with your maternal care these chosen ones, so dear to the Heart of your Son.

Intercede for our priests, that offering the Sacrifice of your Son, they may be conformed more each day to the image of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Saint John Vianney, universal patron of priests, pray for us and our priests

This icon shows Jesus Christ, our eternal high priest.

The gold pelican over His heart represents self-sacrifice.

The border contains an altar and grapevines, representing the Mass, and icons of Melchizedek and St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney.

Melchizedek: king of righteousness (left icon) was priest and king of Jerusalem. He blessed Abraham and has been considered an ideal priest-king.

St. Jean-Baptiste Vianney is the patron saint of parish priests.

Pray a Rosary each day for our nation.

Pray the Rosary

1. Sign of the Cross: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2. The Apostles Creed: I BELIEVE in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

3. The Lord's Prayer: OUR Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

4. (3) Hail Mary: HAIL Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and in the hour of our death. Amen. (Three times)

5. Glory Be: GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Fatima Prayer: Oh, my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy.

Announce each mystery, then say 1 Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, 1 Glory Be and 1 Fatima prayer. Repeat the process with each mystery.

End with the Hail Holy Queen:

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve! To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears! Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us; and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus!

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Final step -- The Sign of the Cross

The Mysteries of the Rosary

By tradition, Catholics meditate on these Mysteries during prayers of the Rosary.
The biblical references follow each of the Mysteries below.

The Glorious Mysteries
(Wednesdays and Sundays)
1.The Resurrection (Matthew 28:1-8, Mark 16:1-18, Luke 24:1-12, John 20:1-29) [Spiritual fruit - Faith]
2. The Ascension (Mark 16:19-20, Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:6-11) [Spiritual fruit - Christian Hope]
3. The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-13) [Spiritual fruit - Gifts of the Holy Spirit]
4. The Assumption [Spiritual fruit - To Jesus through Mary]
5. The Coronation [Spiritual fruit - Grace of Final Perseverance]

~ PRAYER ~

St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle
Be our protection against the wickedness
and snares of the devil;
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
Cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen
+

A Prayer for our Free Nation Under God
God Save Our Country web site (prayer warriors)
Prayer Chain Request for the United States of America
Pray for Nancy Pelosi
Prayer and fasting will help defeat health care reform (Freeper Prayer Thread)
Prayer Campaign Started to Convert Pro-Abortion Catholic Politicians to Pro-Life
[Catholic Caucus] One Million Rosaries
Non-stop Rosary vigil to defeat ObamaCare

From an Obama bumper sticker on a car:

"Pray for Obama. Psalm 109:8"

PLEASE JOIN US -

Evening Prayer
Someone has said that if people really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless.
Did you know that during WWII there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every day at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace?

There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America. If you would like to participate: Every evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time (8:00 PM Central) (7:00 PM Mountain) (6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, and for a return to a Godly nation. If you know anyone else who would like to participate, please pass this along. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have. Please forward this to your praying friends.

August Devotion -- The Immaculate Heart [of Mary]

Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. The month of August is traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The physical heart of Mary is venerated (and not adored as the Sacred Heart of Jesus is) because it is united to her person: and as the seat of her love (especially for her divine Son), virtue, and inner life. Such devotion is an incentive to a similar love and virtue.

This devotion has received new emphasis in this century from the visions given to Lucy Dos Santos, oldest of the visionaries of Fatima, in her convent in Tuy, in Spain, in 1925 and 1926. In the visions Our Lady asked for the practice of the Five First Saturdays to help make amends for the offenses given to her heart by the blasphemies and ingratitude of men. The practice parallels the devotion of the Nine First Fridays in honor of the Sacred Heart.

On October 31, 1942, Pope Pius XII made a solemn Act of Consecration of the Church and the whole world to the Immaculate Heart. Let us remember this devotion year-round, but particularly through the month of August.

INVOCATIONS

O heart most pure of the Blessed Virgin Mary, obtain for me from Jesus a pure and humble heart.

Sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation.

ACT OF CONSECRATION
Queen of the most holy Rosary, help of Christians, refuge of the human race, victorious in all the battles of God, we prostrate ourselves in supplication before thy throne, in the sure hope of obtaining mercy and of receiving grace and timely aid in our present calamities, not through any merits of our own, on which we do not rely, but only through the immense goodness of thy mother's heart. In thee and in thy Immaculate Heart, at this grave hour of human history, do we put our trust; to thee we consecrate ourselves, not only with all of Holy Church, which is the mystical body of thy Son Jesus, and which is suffering in so many of her members, being subjected to manifold tribulations and persecutions, but also with the whole world, torn by discords, agitated with hatred, the victim of its own iniquities. Be thou moved by the sight of such material and moral degradation, such sorrows, such anguish, so many tormented souls in danger of eternal loss! Do thou, O Mother of mercy, obtain for us from God a Christ-like reconciliation of the nations, as well as those graces which can convert the souls of men in an instant, those graces which prepare the way and make certain the long desired coming of peace on earth. O Queen of peace, pray for us, and grant peace unto the world in the truth, the justice, and the charity of Christ.

Above all, give us peace in our hearts, so that the kingdom of God may spread its borders in the tranquillity of order. Accord thy protection to unbelievers and to all those who lie within the shadow of death; cause the Sun of Truth to rise upon them; may they be enabled to join with us in repeating before the Savior of the world: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will."

Give peace to the nations that are separated from us by error or discord, and in a special manner to those peoples who profess a singular devotion toward thee; bring them back to Christ's one fold, under the one true Shepherd. Obtain full freedom for the holy Church of God; defend her from her enemies; check the ever-increasing torrent of immorality; arouse in the faithful a love of purity, a practical Christian life, and an apostolic zeal, so that the multitude of those who serve God may increase in merit and in number.

Finally, even as the Church and all mankind were once consecrated to the Heart of thy Son Jesus, because He was for all those who put their hope in Him an inexhaustible source of victory and salvation, so in like manner do we consecrate ourselves forever to thee also and to thy Immaculate Heart, O Mother of us and Queen of the world; may thy love and patronage hasten the day when the kingdom of God shall be victorious and all the nations, at peace with God .and with one another, shall call thee blessed and intone with thee, from the rising of the sun to its going down, the everlasting "Magnificat" of glory, of love, of gratitude to the Heart of Jesus, in which alone we can find truth, life, and peace. — Pope Pius XII

IN HONOR OF THE IMMACULATE HEART
O heart of Mary, mother of God, and our mother; heart most worthy of love, in which the adorable Trinity is ever well-pleased, worthy of the veneration and love of all the angels and of all men; heart most like to the Heart of Jesus, of which thou art the perfect image; heart, full of goodness, ever compassionate toward our miseries; deign to melt our icy hearts and grant that they may be wholly changed into the likeness of the Heart of Jesus, our divine Savior. Pour into them the love of thy virtues, enkindle in them that divine fire with which thou thyself dost ever burn. In thee let Holy Church find a safe shelter; protect her and be her dearest refuge, her tower of strength, impregnable against every assault of her enemies. Be thou the way which leads to Jesus, and the channel, through which we receive all the graces needful for our salvation. Be our refuge in time of trouble, our solace in the midst of trial, our strength against temptation, our haven in persecution, our present help in every danger, and especially) at the hour of death, when all hell shall let loose against u its legions to snatch away our souls, at that dread moment; that hour so full of fear, whereon our eternity depends. An,; then most tender virgin, make us to feel the sweetness of thy motherly heart, and the might of thine intercession with Jesus, and open to us a safe refuge in that very fountain of mercy, whence we may come to praise Him with thee in paradise, world without end. Amen.

Prayer Source: Prayer Book, The by Reverend John P. O'Connell, M.A., S.T.D. and Jex Martin, M.A., The Catholic Press, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 1954

Sacred Heart Of Jesus

Sacred Heart Of Jesus image

Immaculate Heart of Mary

Immaculate Heart of Mary image

Blessed be the Most Loving Heart and Sweet Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the most glorious Virgin Mary, His Mother, in eternity and forever. Amen.

....Only the Heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father's love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way ----From the Catechism. P:1439

From the depth of my nothingness, I prostrate myself before Thee, O Most Sacred, Divine and Adorable Heart of Jesus, to pay Thee all the homage of love, praise and adoration in my power.
Amen. - - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

The prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes his most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins. Christian prayer loves to follow the way of the cross in the Savior's steps.-- >From the Catechism. P: 2669

The Salutation to the Heart of Jesus and Mary

An Offering of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Novena Prayer to Sacred Heart of Jesus

Prayer to the Wounded Heart of Jesus

Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart

Meditation & Novena Prayer on the Sacred Heart

Beads to the Sacred Heart

Novena Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

A Solemn Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

The Daily Offering to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Exaltation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Prayer to the Blessed Virgin

The Holy Heart of Mary Is, After the Heart of Jesus, the Most Exalted Throne of Divine Love
Let us recollect that God has given us the feast of the most pure Heart of the Blessed Virgin so that we may render on that day all the respect, honor and praise that we possibly can. To enkindle this spirit within us let us consider our motivating obligations.

The first is that we ought to love and honor whatever God loves and honors, and that by which He is loved and glorified. Now, after the adorable Heart of Jesus there has never been either in heaven or on earth, nor ever will be, a heart which has been so loved and honored by God, or which has given Him so much glory as that of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Never has there been, nor will there ever be a more exalted throne of divine love. In that Heart divine love possesses its fullest empire, for it ever reigns without hindrance or interruption, and with it reign likewise all the laws of God, all the Gospel maxims and every Christian virtue.

This incomparable Heart of the Mother of our Redeemer is a glorious heaven, a Paradise of delights for the Most Holy Trinity. According to St. Paul, the hearts of the faithful are the dwelling place of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Himself assures us that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost take up Their abode in the hearts of those who love God. Who, therefore, can doubt that the Most Holy Trinity has always made His home and established the reign of His glory in an admirable and ineffable manner in the virginal Heart of her who is the Daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son, the Spouse of the Holy Ghost, who herself loves God more than all other creatures together?

How much then are we not obliged to love this exalted and most lovable Heart?

— St. John Eudes

Today: Immaculate Heart of Mary [DEVOTIONAL]

The Immaculate Heart of Mary [Devotional] Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Saturdays and the Immaculate Heart of Mary [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
The Brown Scapular (Catholic Caucus)
The History of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Catholic Caucus)
Homilies preached by Father Robert Altier on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Marian Associations Unite to Celebrate Immaculate Heart
Solemnity Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary
FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, AUGUST 22ND
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

August 2013
Pope's Intentions

Parents and Teachers. That parents and teachers may help the new generation to grow in upright conscience and life.

The Church in Africa. That the local Church in Africa, faithfully proclaiming the Gospel, may promote peace and justice.

From Zenit.org

The Good and the Goods

Lectio Divina: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

·

Paris, August 02, 2013 (Zenit.org) Monsignor Francesco Follo | 635 hits

As the pearls are linked together by a string so are the virtues of charity that make us rich of God (St. Pius of Pietralcina)

1) To accumulate the Good not goods.

In the first reading of the Roman Liturgy, three forms of vanity are identified: the sterility of human effort, the fragility of the achieved results and the many abnormalities and injustices of life. In the Gospel Jesus speaks about a rich man satisfied for his wealth that is being told “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you”. ( Lk 12;20). This speculator was not very clever. In fact he had not ”invested” well. The Redeemer doesn’t limit himself to verify the vanity, the lack of foundation and the uncertainty of material goods. I don’t believe that the Messiah intent is simply to disenchant man in making him free from the fascination of ownership. Christ indicates more deeply the true way of liberation.” Thus will be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God” ( Lk 12:21). It is the “for oneself” that is wrong and must be substituted with another orientation, in front of God.

What does this mean practically? I think the explanation is in the verses that follow the ones of today’s liturgy. Three teachings are visible in those verses. To become rich in front of God means not to fall into the temptation of anxiety if as everything depends on us. To become rich in front of God means to subordinate all – work, goods, and life- to God’s Kingdom. To become rich in front of God means “to give alms”. The “in front of” God becomes “for the others”. To become rich in itself is to become prisoner of vanity. On the contrary charity, fraternity and love are values that never fail.

Among the many saints of poverty that have enriched the Church I’d like to point out two.

The first one is Saint John Maria Vianney, the Saint Cure d’Ars. I’d like to mention him because today is the liturgical memory of this humble and poor pastor. At his time Ars was a small village of approximately 2000 inhabitants. He was a true follower of Saint Francis of Assisi as disciple in the Third Order of Saint Francis. Rich in the Good he donated his goods to the others. He lived in poverty with an absolute detachment from the goods of the world and his heart, totally free, opened to all the material and spiritual miseries that came to him. “My secret” he used to say” is very simple: to give all and not to keep anything”. His lack of interest made him very attentive towards the poor and above all those of his parish to whom he showed an extreme sensitivity treating them “with true tenderness, many cares and, one must say, with respect”. He recommended that we must never disrespect the poor because such disrespect falls on God. When the poor knocked at his door he was happy to be able to say “I’m as poor as you are. Today I’m one of you!” At the end of his life he used to say ” I’m very happy, I don’t have anything and the good God can call me whenever He likes”. For him the poor were also the sinners that came to him from all over France. He gave them the charity of the forgiveness of God and of the peace of heart.

The second one is Saint Omobono Tucenghi, patron of my dioceses of Cremona. While I beg your pardon for this bit of parochialism, I’d like to say that he is a saint applicable to today’s theme because from the beginning the Church has called him “ Father of the Poor”, “consoler of the afflicted”, “ man of peace and peacemaker” “ good man named and made”. You could object that he is a medieval saint, far away in time. However I’d like to propose him because he is really meaningful. This saint from Cremona is the first and only lay people and a married merchant that has been canonized in the Middle Age. At the end of the XII century it was not easy for a lay person married and deep into business, not belonging to a royal or noble family to be proclaimed Saint and that was done less than two years after his death on November 13, 1197.

Saint Omobono (Good Man in Italian) Tucenghi had truly paid homage to his name. He was a clever man that had shown great talent in business becoming rich and respected in a time when in Cremona the textile industry was one of the main activity that had made the city wealthy. At the time when, like today, money and commerce were the center of city life, Omobono combined justice and charity. He made charity a sign of sharing with the spontaneity with which he, because of the continuous contemplation of the Crucifix, learned to testify the value of life as a gift.

From looking at Christ came his sainthood that made him understand that the money gained was not his only, but belonged by right to the poor and particularly to the poor children of his town.

He transformed his house in a “welcoming house’ and consecrated himself to the burial of the abandoned dead. His generosity was so well known that still today when a request is exaggerated, we say” I don’t have the money of Saint Omobono”. Tradition says that his money never finished so that he was able to donate continuously.

He died in church at the singing of the Gloria while attending Mass as he used to do every day.

2) Transfiguration

Every year we celebrate the feast of Transfiguration. This year it will be on August 6.

Christ’s Transfiguration is well known. On the transfigured face of Jesus, who had ascended Mount Tabor with Peter and James, shone a ray of the divine light that He was keeping in his soul. This same light shone again on Christ’s face on the day of the Resurrection. For this reason Transfiguration is an anticipation of the Pascal mystery. Transfiguration invites us to open the eyes of the heart over the mystery of God’s light present in the whole history of liberation. We must contemplate the Lord with eyes of faith as Pope Francis’ encyclical Lumen Fidei teaches. Poor eyes of faith that look at Christ, poor on the Cross, so that we can look at the Father and at the world as He does. (Lumen Fidei, 56)

Our transfiguration is a gift and an assignment. We have an example of it in the Consecrated Virgins who with their life are called to be special witnesses of the Presence of God who is light and gives light.

The virgin person remains a witness of a divine presence.

The Virgins have committed themselves to live the participation to Christ’s mystery in the body and in the spirit. From this comes the fact that the virgin is a constant demonstration of the transfiguring divine presence in the world. The necessity of consecrated virginity is born from here. We cannot oppose tomorrow’s sky to today’s earth. The world is one; there are no two worlds. The world is only one but for us that do not live yet a human transfiguration, the divine world stays hidden. We believe in it but it remains hidden.

The Virgins reveal it and in their poverty of life are ‘rich” of God. “It is in You that they have all because it is You that they prefer to all” (Rite of the Consecration of the Virgins, 24; at the end of the solemn prayer of consecration). Christ’s poverty was fundamental, continuous and wanted: “On his naked body on the Cross the signs of his love were visible and readable for all” ( Primo Mazzolari, The Way of the Cross of the Poor, Rome 1977, page 143). We can be enriched by this love if we become poor and ask for it as it is testified by the Consecrated Virgins.

Reading almost patristic

The homage of Benedict XVI to the poverty of Saint Francis

“It was April 1207 in an Italy full of sun. It was the month in which Saint Francis of Assisi had been disinherited and repudiated by his father. He didn’t have anything anymore. Not even the dress he was wearing was his. However he had something that nobody could take away from him. It had the love of God to whom he could say” Father” in a totally new way”. He knew that this was more than to have the entire world. His heart was full of a great joy and singing he was walking through the Umbrian woods.

While Saint Francis was going by Gubbio, suddenly from the forest came two bandits who wanted to rob him. Surprised by his look they asked” Who are you?” He answered” I’m the herald of the Great King”.

Francis of Assisi was not a priest, but remained a deacon his all life. What he said however in that moment is a profound description of what is and what should be a priest: he is the herald of the Great King and the announcer of God’s lordship that must expand into the heart of every man and of the entire world.

The herald will go along his way not always singing. Sometimes he will because the good God gives to the priest moments in which with surprise and joy, he recognizes the great assignment that God had given to him. However against this herald come the bandits that don’t like the announcement. They are the uninterested ones who don’t ever have time for God, those who if God would call them, would always have something else to do. Then come the ones who say that there is no need to build churches but houses, and to whom it is however right that movie theaters and other places of amusement are built.’ (From Volume 12 of the Opera Omnia of Joseph Ratzinger)

Arlington Catholic Herald

GOSPEL COMMENTARY LK 12:13-21

True riches

Fr. Jack Peterson, YA

When I was young boy at St. Anthony’s elementary school in Falls Church, I had nuns who taught me English. I did not enjoy studying the rules of grammar, how to properly construct sentences, and why it is improper to say, “The nuns gave you and I a sound education.” In fact, I pretty much hated those classes. My mom kept encouraging me to study diligently, and she reminded me that I would appreciate these skills down the road.

As the years went by, I did come to appreciate the knowledge and skills that were the fruit of those hours of difficult study. Learning the fundamentals of English helped me in a variety of ways when I had to write papers in high school and college, learn French as a second language, and craft homilies for the Catholic Herald. My mom and those nuns were wiser than I.

When you and I come before Jesus, we stand as children before the Master. No matter how experienced or wise we think we are, we always have more to learn from Jesus who is truth and who came into this world to bear witness to the truth. He regularly asks us in the Gospels, in prayer and through the church to do things that are difficult or that do not make sense to us as children. Yet, Jesus knows what leads to true human fulfillment and what fills us with lasting joy. He guides us on the path to eternal happiness, which is often different from the path we would choose on our own.

In our Gospel this Sunday, Jesus addresses one of the great temptations that every human being faces — to think that happiness lies in material possessions. We all need a certain amount of food, education and shelter to live dignified, human lives. However, most of us are sorely tempted to think that we will finally be happy if we just had a newer car, a larger home, a more substantial savings account and a fancier vacation. Jesus sternly warns us: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” In our better moments, we realize that He is right, yet we are easily lulled by society and advertisers into thinking that nicer things make us happy.

We have all known rich people who are clearly unhappy. The newspapers reflect this reality with stories of the rich and famous who commit suicide, get divorced numerous times, overdose on drugs and give up on God. It is quite clear that riches are not a guarantee of happiness.

We have also known poor people who are remarkably happy. I served as a seminarian for a summer in the U.S. Virgin Islands. One Sunday a taxi driver picked up another seminarian and me to take us back to the parish on a Sunday afternoon. We soon discovered that he was a member of the parish. His taxi was old and a little worn out, but it was clean and filled with an air of life. He engaged us in a very lively discussion about life on St. Croix and the blessings of our Catholic faith. He was very animated, upbeat and happy. He refused to let us pay for the ride that afternoon. We mentioned this kind gesture to another parishioner, and he told us that cabbie gives free rides for all every Sunday. Sunday is the Lord’s Day, and that is one way that he chooses to celebrate it. This man was poor, yet he was rich. He had few possessions, but he was a friend of Jesus, and he was happy.

In the Gospel this Sunday, Jesus tells a story about a fool who put all of his focus on his earthly possessions and was surprised when his last day on earth came earlier than expected. “Thus it will be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.” The invitation for us is to become rich in what matters to God.

A prayerful glance through the Gospels will give us a clear picture of what matters to God. Loving God with all of our heart and trusting in Him, offering humble service to our neighbor, especially those in need, welcoming children in His name, living in gratitude, bearing witness to Jesus in the world, and obeying God even when we are not in the mood are several of the things that help us to become rich in what matters to God. These practices and attitudes are the riches that lead to true happiness.

Fr. Peterson is assistant chaplain at Marymount University in Arlington and director of the Youth Apostles Institute in McLean.

The Work of God

Year C

- 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

He who lays up a treasure for himself.

Luke 12:13-21

13 And one of the multitude said to him: Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me.
14 But he said to him: Man, who has appointed me judge, or divider, over you?
15 And he said to them: Take heed and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of things which he possesses.
16 And he spoke a similitude to them, saying: The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits.
17 And he thought within himself, saying: What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
18 And he said: This I will 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.
19 And I will say to my soul: Soul, you have many riches laid up for many years, take your rest; eat, drink, be happy.
20 But God said to him: You fool, tonight do they will require your soul of you: and whose shall those things be which you have owned?
21 So is for him who lays up a treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God.

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time - He who lays up a treasure for himself.

I have created the material world to be the temporary house of man. It is full of riches and natural resources that provide everything man needs to survive until the time is set for his departure into eternal life.

When you die, what can you take with you? Let me tell you, unless you start accumulating riches in Heaven through your good works, you will have nothing to take with you and I will not receive you empty handed.

The world is rich, but these riches have been accumulated by a few at the cost of others who cannot even obtain what is necessary to live. I call this injustice: and for this reason the cry of the poor is heard above the heavens claiming justice. And believe me, the time will come soon when everyone will have to answer for the sins of avarice, injustice, covetousness and all the other evils that offend God and men.

I have given everything for free, but I retain ownership of the world. Everything belongs to me and I want everyone to have a chance to live with dignity sharing what I have offered you. Injustice makes me angry.

But even Cain the first man after Adam, allowed jealousy and hatred to grow in his heart, he could not control the evil within him, so he killed his good brother Abel. I asked him the same question that I will ask you: “Where is your brother?” And you will have to answer for every evil that you did to your neighbor. In contrast, you will be rewarded eternally for every act of kindness and generosity. Whatever you do to the least of these brothers of yours and mine, you are doing to me.

Time and time again the stronger man has laid his yoke upon his weaker brother. What we have now is a world full of injustice, hatred, jealousy, corruption, avarice and the desire to kill.

You don’t necessarily kill someone physically but you kill with your hatred and injustice. Many lives are destroyed by the injustice of the commercial world of today, where money is more important than man. The big fish always eats the smaller fish, the strong man overpowers the weak, the intelligent takes advantage of the less intelligent, the evil man does evil to the good man and injustice flourishes in the land because there is no fear of God.

Repent of your sins. Forgive one another because this is the condition for you to be forgiven. Fight your avarice and covetousness with generosity. Extend your riches to the poor, be nice to everyone, and help those in need.

Do not turn away your mind from the needy, they are your brothers, you will find me in them.

Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary

Archdiocese of Washington

You Can’t Take it with You, But You Can Send it on Ahead! Five teachings on Wealth from the Gospel of the 18th Sunday of the Year.

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

The Gospel today is not merely a warning against greed, it is an instruction on income and wealth given by Jesus to help us root out greed. As the Gospel opens the problem of greed is presented, and then a prescribed perspective about wealth is offered. Lets take a look at both parts of this gospel.

I. The Problem that is Portrayed - The text begins: 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.”

Note that Jesus turns to the crowd (to avoid personally indicting the man of something of which can all be guilty), and warns without ambiguity that greed must be guarded against. Greed is the insatiable desire for more. It is to want possessions inordinately, beyond what is reasonable or necessary.

Greed is often downplayed today where accumulation and ostentatious display of wealth is often celebrated. Great rooms with cathedral ceilings, 72″ flat screen TVs and even private home theaters (entertainment centers), fancy cars etc., are shamelessly flaunted.

But greed is at the root of a lot of evils and suffering. Scripture says,

For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs. (1 Tim 6:7-10)

Note that these are very strong words. Greed causes us to be discontented and ungrateful, both of which are forms of unhappiness. It also leads us into temptations, into a snare or trap that sets loose the pangs of many harmful desires which seem to expand in ever increasing ways. And this desire for more and more too easily leads us to personal destruction, and to inflict great harm, insensitivity and injustice on others.

On account of greed we almost never say, “I have enough, I will give away the rest or use it for others.” Many also wander from the faith since wealth is generally tied to this world and its demands, and they have “too much to loose.” Hence the faith is set aside in favor of the world, greed overrules God and the demands of the gospel.

The Lord will develop more of this in the parable ahead. But for now note that the Lord warns about the serious and destructive problem of greed. This is the problem that is portrayed.

II. The Perspective that is Prescribed - But the Lord does not simply condemn greed. He next goes on to tell a parable which strives to give a proper perspective about wealth. In itself, wealth is not evil. But without a proper perspective, we too easily fall into greed. Hence the Lord gives five teachings on wealth to help us keep it in perspective and avoid greed.

A. The INITIATION of Wealth - The text says, There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.

Notice that the subject of the sentence is the land, not the man. It was the land, not the man who yielded the increase. And hence, whatever we have has come from God and what God has given. Scripture says,

Deuteronomy 8:18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth
Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein;
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
1 Cor 4:7 What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

As such wealth is not bad or evil. But, in all our things, we must never forget that God is the true owner and we are the stewards. An old song says, God and God alone created all these things we call our own: From the mighty to the small the glory in them all is God’s and God’s alone.

God gives the increase and is the initiator of every blessing, but God remains the owner. And as stewards we are expected to use what belongs to God in accord with what God, the true owner wills. Too easily we forget this and usher in many woes on account of wealth.

And what is the will of God regarding our wealth? The Catechism speaks of God’s will as the “Universal Destination of Goods:”

God gave all the goods of the earth for all the people of the earth. This means that the goods of creation are destined for the whole human race…In his use of things man should regard the external goods he legitimately owns not merely as exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as himself. The ownership of any property makes its holder a steward of Providence, with the task of making it fruitful and communicating its benefits to others, first of all his family. (Catechism 2402, 2404)

If we will remember that we are stewards of God’s gifts, and that he ultimately intends all to be blessed, we can understand that greed is a form of theft, for it inordinately clings to what should be given to another out of justice. If I have two coats, one of them belongs to the poor.

Remembering that the initiation of my wealth is God, I can helped to avoid greed by using my wealth for the purposes God gave it. It is not just for me, it is for all the people of this earth.

B. The INCONVENIENCE of wealth- the Parable continues, He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?‘

The man sees his wealth and because he does not consider generosity an option, is somehow burdened by it: “What shall I do?” he asks anxiously. To be honest, great wealth brings comfort but is also a source of inconvenience. Consider just a few things that usually go with wealth: locks, insurance, keys, alarms, storage facilities, worries, fears, repairs, maintenance, upgrades, cleaning, utilities, etc. We live in an affluent age but consider the stress. Consider also the loss of other more important values, we have bigger houses but smaller families, and our McMansions are really more houses than homes.

Scripture says,

Eccl 5:12 The rest of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.
Prov 15:16 Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.
Proverbs 17:1 Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.
Ecc 5:10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.

So, wealth certainly has its comforts, but it also brings with it many inconveniences which make our lives stressful and complicated. Better to be free of great or excessive wealth in accord with God’s will than to be burdened and inconvenienced by it. Here is another perspective that helps us avoid greed.

C. The ILLUSION of wealth- The parable goes on to say, And [the man] 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!”‘

And here we are taught that riches easily lead us to an illusion of self sufficiency. We start to rely on self, and on riches, instead of God. But as we shall see the man’s wealth will utterly fail him before the night is out.

Riches can buy us out of temporary troubles, but cannot help with the central problem we face. No amount of money on this earth can postpone our appointment with death and judgment. Riches can get us a first class cabin on the ship, but on the “Titanic” of this earth we are no more set than the people in steerage. Indeed, because of the illusion it creates, wealth will more likely hinder us in our final passage. For it is only in trusting in God that we can make it to the other shore. But too much wealth and self reliance hinder our capacity to call on the Lord and trust him. Yes, wealth tends to create an illusion which cripples us from reaching our goal. Scripture says:

Ps 49:12 But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish. This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings.
1 Tim 6:17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Prov 11:28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,
James 1:11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
Prov 30:8 Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

An old gospel song says, Well the way may not be easy, but you never said it would be. Cause when my way get’s a little too easy you know I tend to stray from thee.

The illusion of riches is well illustrated in the modern age. Our wealth has tended to make us less religious. Less dependent on God. But really, can all our wealth and power, technology and science ultimately save us? We know it can not.

Yet strangely we entertain the illusion of wealth anyway. And we think, like the man in the parable, “Now I’ve got it, now I’m set.” This is an illusion, a set up. And coming to see it for the illusion that it is will help us avoid greed.

D. The INSUFFICIENCY of wealth – 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?’

And thus we see the illusion give way to the reality of insufficiency. Scripture says,

Psalm 49:5 There are men who trust in their wealth and boast of the vastness of their riches. But no man can buy his own ransom, or pay a price to God for his life. The ransom of his soul is beyond him. He cannot buy life without end nor avoid coming to the grave. He knows that wise men and fools must perish and leave their wealth to others. Their graves are their homes for ever, their dwelling place from age to age though their names spread wide through the land. In his riches man lacks wisdom, he is like the beast that perish.
Mat 16:26 For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?

Money, wealth, power popularity and prestige can never really get us what we need. And it’s not just money, We have sought so many saviors in this world thinking they can somehow save us:

SCIENCE can’t you save me? No I can’t save you I can tell you how far it is from the earth to the sun I can tell you how to sail in rocket ships up to outer space But I can’t tell you how to climb to heaven I can’t save you
PHILOSOPHY can’t you save me? No I can’t save you I can tell you more and more about less and less until you know everything about very little I can tell you about the greatest thoughts and opinions of the greatest thinkers But I can’t save you
EDUCATION can’t you save me? No I can’t save you I can make you smart But I can’t make you wise I can’t save you.
CULTURE can’t you save me?! No I can’t save you. I can make the world a more beautiful and entertaining place to go to hell from. But I can’t save you.
ECONOMICS, can’t you save me?! No I can’t save you. I can make you richer But not rich enough to buy your salvation I can’t save you.
POLITICS, can’t you save me?! No I can’t save you. I can give you power and access to worldly power But the word as we know it is passing away I can’t save you.

At the end of the day all this world and all its riches cannot save us. Only God can do this. Here too is another perspective on wealth that helps us avoid greed.

E. The INSTRUCTION about wealth – The parable concludes: Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”

As we have already remarked, wealth is not intrinsically evil. It is our greed that is sinful and gets us into trouble. And greed clings to wealth unreasonably and excessively. With greed we “store up treasure for our self and are not rich in what matters to God.”

So, what matters to God? What matters is that we be rich in justice, mercy, love, holiness and truth, that we be generous sharers of the bounty he bestows. And thus the Lord teaches us to generously share what we have over and above what we do not need. Consider the following teachings:

Luke 16:9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
Mat 6:19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
1 Tim 6:17-19 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

There is an old saying: “You take it with you.” And this is true, but only partially. The Lord suggests that we can send our wealth on ahead, that we can store it up in heaven, that we can invest it in eternity. How? Do we put our gold in a balloon and float it up? No, we send it up, we send it on ahead by bestowing it on the poor and needy. This can include our children and family members, for Charity begins at home. But it does not end there. Thus our generosity should extend beyond the family to many of the poor.

If we do this the Lord teaches that the poor we bless will welcome us to heaven and speak on our behalf before the judgment seat. The Lord says when we bless the poor our treasure will be great, and safe in heaven. Further, our generosity and mercy will benefit us greatly on the day of judgment and help us, as St. Paul says above, lay hold of the life that is truly life.

So, you can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.

Therefore, this final teaching or perspective on wealth is to be rich in what matters to God by being generous, not greedy.

And thus we have five teachings on wealth meant to give us perspective, so as to avoid greed.

And trust God! Greed is rooted in fear, but generosity trusts that God will not be outdone in generosity! And while our greatest rewards remain in heaven, God sends “interest payments” even now upon the generous. Scripture says,

Prov 11:24 One man gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.A generous man will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.
Ecclesiastes 11:1 Cast your bread upon the waters: after many days it will come back to you.
Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

Since you can’t take it with you, you might as well send it on ahead. Guard against greed by allowing these five teachings on wealth to give you a proper perspective on wealth.

Sunday Gospel Reflections

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading I: Ecclesiastes 1:2,2:21-23 II: Col 3:1-5,9-11

Gospel
Luke 12:13-21

¹³ One of the multitude said to him, "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 a 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 pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there 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."

Interesting Details

This passage is referred as the parable of the rich fool and only found in Luke. It was prompted by a dispute between brothers over inheritance.
(v.13) In the inheritance laws described in Num 27:1-11 and Deut 21:15-17, the father's heritage was passed on to the following chain of beneficiaries: son, daughter, brothers, uncles and nearest relative. The oldest son always got a larger portion of the heritage. According to Roman law, a division of inheritance was required only if both parties requested it. However, Judaic law allowed the division on the petition of a single son (Lk 15:12 - the parable of the lost son).
(v.14) Jesus was invited to be a judge and a mediator in what nowadays is called a civil case. At that time, there was no distinction between various facets of the law; a rabbi was expected to provide the answers in all cases even in family disputes. Jesus refused to be drawn into the conflict driven by greed but used the opportunity to teach about the trap of possessions.
(vv.17-19) The words "I" and "my" were repeatedly used to emphasize the egocentric view of the rich man. Family, neighbors and God were all absent from his plan.
(vv.20-21) God condemned the rich man as a fool because even with careful planning he would not know when the time came, then why he had to accumulate so much wealth.

One Main Point

The purpose of life is not to be rich in material possessions, but to be rich in the sight of God. That is to share the wealth to those in need.

Reflections

When I get involved in a family dispute, what is the driving force to settle the differences?
Similar to the rich man in the parable, do I spend so much time and energy to accumulate wealth and a great plan to secure a comfortable future? Do I totally control that future? What do I miss in my plan?
How do I treat my possessions? Do I rightfully earn them or consider them as gifts from God? How do I balance between the need and the excessive?

Sunday, August 04, 2013
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading:
Psalm:
Second Reading:
Gospel:

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23
Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14, 17
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
Luke 12:13-21

The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his Creator.

-- Gaudium et spes

Just A Minute (Listen)
Some of EWTN's most popular hosts and guests in a collection of one minute inspirational messages. A different message each time you click.

The Angelus

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary . . .

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

This reflection, with its helpful questions, is something that might be useful for my family. We tend to discuss the historical elements of the lectionary readings more than their life applications, because we’re all very nerdy!

Saint John Mary Vianney, Priest, Cure of Ars

Saint John Mary Vianney, Priest
Cure of Ars
Memorial
August 4th

unknown artist

(1786-1859) Born new Lyons, France, he was ordained in 1815 in Grenoble, and in 1818 was assigned to the parish of Ars, where he spent the rest of his life. He was best known for his steadfast care of souls, for his spirit of prayer and mortification and, above all, for his tireless dedication to the Sacrament of Penance. He spent most of his life in the confessional, drawing energy from his intimate and constant friendship with our Lord in the Eucharist. Pius XI declared him Patron of Parish Priest.

Collect:
Almighty and merciful God,
who made the Priest Saint John Vianney
wonderful in his pastoral zeal,
grant, we pray,
that through his intercession and example
we may in charity win brothers and sisters for Christ
and attain with them eternal glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. +Amen.

First Reading: Ezekiel 3:17-21
At the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, you shall give them warning from Me. If I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you will have saved your life. Again, if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you will have saved your life."

Gospel Reading: Matthew 9:35-10:1
Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

And He called to Him His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity.

SACERDOTII NOSTRI PRIMORDIA -- On the Priesthood --ENCYCLICAL OF POPE JOHN XXIII -- Centennial Celebration of ST. JOHN VIANNEY, AUGUST 1, 1959

St. John Vianney Prayer

"O my God, come to me, so that You may dwell in me and I may dwell in you."

Saint's days are superseded by the Sunday Liturgy.

The Devil’s Most Effective Foe
On a Saint Who Taught and Guided Holy Priests
Pope Benedict to declare St. Jean Vianney Patron of all Priests
Praying People into the Confessional (the example of St. John Vianney)

The divine depository in our hands (so you want to go to heaven?) [Catholic Caucus]
Revitalizing Your Priesthood (The Grace of Ars -- about St. John Vianney)
A Seed of Glory and Eternal Life in the Holy Priest's Flesh [Death of St. John Vianney, Curé d’Ars]
The Priesthood and the Mass
Sermons of St. John Vianney - Cure of Ars » Follow one Master only
Sermons of St. John Vianney - Cure of Ars » The World is Everything - God, Nothing!
Sermons of St. John Vianney - Cure of Ars » We are wretched creatures
Bishop Olmsted on the Devil and John Vianney
St. John Mary Vianney, the Curé d'Ars
Saint John MarIe Baptist Vianney, Cure of Ars (1786-1859)

Novena In Honor Of Saint John Marie Vianney
Curé d'Ars: Model Priest [Year of the Priest]
Pope: There's an Answer to Empty Confessionals [Catholic Caucus]
St. John Vianney's Pastoral Plan
Sermons of St. John Vianney - Cure of Ars » Lost Works
Sermons of St. John Vianney - Cure of Ars » Have You Religion in Your Heart?
Sermons of St. John Vianney - Cure of Ars: The Dreadful State of the Lukewarm Soul (Catholic Caucus)
Play about life of St. John Vianney to tour U.S. in 2009
Aug 4, St. John Marie Vianney - Patron of Parish Priests
Centuries Old Relic (heart of St. John Vianney) Comes To U.S.

Sainted priest’s heart - Thousands await chance to see incorrupt relic
Saint's heart to go on display
Excerpts from the Sermons of the Cure of Ars
St. John Vianney’s Pastoral Plan
Relics of Curé of Ars Make Stop in Papal Chapel
HOMILY by St. Jean Baptiste Marie Vianney, the Curé of Ars CHARITY
St John Vianney, Patron of Parish Priests(1786-1859)[Cure of Ars]
News from the Apostolic Administration of St. John Vianney Fall 2002, Volume 1 - Number 1
The Cure Of Ars: Jean-Marie Vianney
“Oh, how great is a priest!" [The Curé d'Ars regarding bishops/priests)

Information: St. John Vianney

Feast Day: August 4

Born: May 8, 1786, Dardilly, France

Died: August 4, 1859, Ars-sur-Formans, France

Canonized: 1925, Rome by Pope Pius XI

Major Shrine: Shrine of St. John Vianney; Ars-sur-Formans, France

Patron of: parish priests; confessors

Interactive Saints for Kids

St. John Vianney

Feast Day: August 4
Born: 1768 :: Died: 1859

John Mary Vianney was born in Lyons, in France. As a child he took care of his father's sheep. He loved to pray but he also loved to play horseshoes. When John was eighteen, he asked his father if he could become a priest. His father was worried because John had become a big help on the family farm but two years later his father agreed.

When he was twenty years old, John studied under Father Balley. The priest was very patient but John became sad when he found it difficult to learn Latin. He then decided to walk sixty miles, which was a very long walk, to the shrine of St. John Francis Regis whose feast we celebrate on June 16. John prayed to St. John Francis for help. After the pilgrimage, he still found his lessons difficult but now he was not sad. He just decided to study harder.

John was finally able to enter the seminary to become a priest. No matter how much he tried, he found his studies quite hard. In the final exams, which were spoken, not written, John had to face a group of teachers and answer their questions. He was very worried and could not complete the test.

Yet, because John was a holy man, he was full of common sense and understood what the Church taught about the subjects. He knew the right answers when asked what should be done in this case or that. He just couldn't say those answers in the difficult way they were taught in the Latin text books. John was ordained and became a priest anyway. He understood what his job was as a priest and everyone knew he was a good man.

After he became a priest, he was sent to a little parish called Ars. Father Vianney fasted, prayed and did hard penance so that God would save the people of his parish from sin. The people of his parish were not all good. They drank too much liquor, used bad language, worked even on Sundays and never went to Church.

Then God heard Fr. Vianney's prayer and one by one the liquor shops closed down. People slowly started going to Church for Mass and began worshipping God.

God gave John the power to see into people's minds and to know the future. Because of this gift, he converted many sinners and helped people make the right choices in life.

Hundreds of pilgrims began to come to Ars and St. John Vianney spent twelve to sixteen hours everyday hearing confessions. He really wanted to spend the rest of his life in a monastery as a monk; instead, he stayed forty-two years at Ars and died there in 1859 at the age of seventy-three.

Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 12
13.	And one of the multitude said to him: Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me.	Ait autem ei quidam de turba : Magister, dic fratri meo ut dividat mecum hæreditatem.	ειπεν δε τις αυτω εκ του οχλου διδασκαλε ειπε τω αδελφω μου μερισασθαι μετ εμου την κληρονομιαν
14.	But he said to him: Man, who hath appointed me judge, or divider, over you?	At ille dixit illi : Homo, quis me constituit judicem, aut divisorem super vos ?	ο δε ειπεν αυτω ανθρωπε τις με κατεστησεν δικαστην η μεριστην εφ υμας
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 cujusquam vita ejus est ex his quæ possidet.	ειπεν δε προς αυτους ορατε και φυλασσεσθε απο της πλεονεξιας οτι ουκ εν τω περισσευειν τινι η ζωη αυτω εστιν εκ των υπαρχοντων αυτου
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 cujusdam divitis uberes fructus ager attulit :	ειπεν δε παραβολην προς αυτους λεγων ανθρωπου τινος πλουσιου ευφορησεν η χωρα
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, quia non habeo quo congregam fructus meos ?	και διελογιζετο εν εαυτω λεγων τι ποιησω οτι ουκ εχω που συναξω τους καρπους μου
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 majora faciam : et illuc congregabo omnia quæ nata sunt mihi, et bona mea,	και ειπεν τουτο ποιησω καθελω μου τας αποθηκας και μειζονας οικοδομησω και συναξω εκει παντα τα γενηματα μου και τα αγαθα μου
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 animæ meæ : Anima, habes multa bona posita in annos plurimos : requiesce, comede, bibe, epulare.	και ερω τη ψυχη μου ψυχη εχεις πολλα αγαθα κειμενα εις ετη πολλα αναπαυου φαγε πιε ευφραινου
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 : quæ autem parasti, cujus erunt ?	ειπεν δε αυτω ο θεος αφρον ταυτη τη νυκτι την ψυχην σου απαιτουσιν απο σου α δε ητοιμασας τινι εσται
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.	ουτως ο θησαυριζων εαυτω και μη εις θεον πλουτων

13. And one of the company said to him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.
14. And he said to him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
15. And he said to them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.

AMBROSE; The whole of the former passage is given to prepare us for undergoing suffering for confessing the Lord, or for contempt of death, or for the hope of reward, or for denunciation of the punishment that will await him to whom pardon will never be granted. And since covetousness is generally wont to try virtue, for destroying this also, a precept and example is added, as it is said, And one of the company said to him, Speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.

THEOPHYL. As these two brothers were contending concerning the division of their paternal inheritance, it follows that one meant to defraud the other; but our Lord teaches us that we ought not to be set on earthly things, and rebukes him that called Him to the division of inheritance; as it follows, And he said to him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?

BEDE; He who wills to impose the trouble of division of lands upon the Master who is commending the joys of heavenly peace, is rightly called man, according to that, whereas there is envying, strife, and divisions among you, are you not men?

CYRIL; Now the Son of God, when He was made like to us, was appointed by God the Father to be King and Prince upon his holy Mount of Sion, to make known the Divine command.

AMBROSE; Well then does He avoid earthly things who had descended for the sake of divine things, and deigns not to be a judge of strifes and arbiter of laws, having the judgment of the quick and dead and the recompensing of works. You should consider then, not what you seek, but from whom you ask it; and you should not eagerly suppose that the greater are to be disturbed by the less. Therefore is this brother deservedly disappointed who desired to occupy the steward of heavenly things with corruptible, seeing that between brothers no judge should intervene, but natural affection should be the umpire to divide the patrimony, although immortality not riches should be the patrimony which men should wait for.

BEDE; He takes occasion from this foolish petitioner to fortify both the multitudes and His disciples alike by precept and example against the plague of covetousness. Whence it follows, He said to them, Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; and he says, of all, because some things seem to be honestly done, but the internal judge decides with what intention they are done.

CYRIL; Or he says, of all covetousness, that is, great and little. For covetousness is unprofitable, as the Lord says, You shall build houses of hewn stone, and shall not dwell in them. And elsewhere, Yes ten acres of vineyards shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah. But also in another way it is unprofitable, as he shows, adding, For a man's life consists not in the abundance, &c.

THEOPHYL. This our Lord says to rebuke the motives of the covetous, who seem to heap up riches as if they were going to live for a long time. But will wealth ever make you long lived? Why then cost you manifestly undergo evils for the sake of an uncertain rest? For it is doubtful whether you ought to attain to an old age, for the sake of which you are collecting treasures.

16. And he spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
17. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
18. And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
19. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
20. But God said to him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be, which you have provided?
21. So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

THEOPHYL. Having said that the life of man is not extended by abundance of wealth, he adds a parable to induce belief in this, as it follows, And he spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.

BASIL; Not indeed about to reap any good from his plenty of fruits, but that the mercy of God might the more appear, which extends its goodness even to the bad; sending down His rain upon the just and the unjust. But what are the things wherewith this man repays his Benefactor? He remembered not his fellow-creatures, nor deemed that he ought to give of his superfluities to the needy. His barns indeed bursting from the abundance of his stores, yet was his greedy mind by no means satisfied. He was unwilling to put up with his old ones because of his covetousness, and not able to undertake new ones because of the number, for his counsels were imperfect, and his care barren. Hence it follows, And he thought. His complaint is like that of the poor. Does not the man oppressed with want say, What shall I do, whence can I get food, whence clothing? Such things also the rich man utters. For his mind is distressed on account of his fruits pouring out from his storehouse, lest perchance when they have come forth they should profit the poor; like the glutton who had rather burst from eating, than give any thing of what remains to the starving.

GREG. O adversity, the child of plenty. For saying, What shall I do, he surely betokens, that, oppressed by the success of his wishes, he labors as it were under a load of goods.

BASIL; It was easy for him to say, I will open my barn, I will call together the needy, but he has no thought of want, only of amassing; for it follows, And he said, This will I do, I will pull down my barns. You do well, for the storehouses of iniquity are worthy of destruction. Bull down your barns, from which no one receives comfort. He adds, I will build greater. But if you shall complete these, wilt you again destroy them? What more foolish than laboring on for ever. Your barns, if you will, are the home of the poor. But you will say, Whom do I wrong by keeping what is my own? For it follows also, And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. Tell me what is yours, from whence did you get it and bring it into life? As he who anticipates the public games, injures those who are coming by appropriating to himself what is appointed for the common use, so likewise the rich who regard as their own the common things which they have forestalled. For if every one receiving what is sufficient for his own necessity would leave what remains to the needy, there would be no rich or poor.

CYRIL; Observe also in another respect the folly of his words, when he says, I will gather all my fruits, as if he thought that he had not obtained them from God, but that they were the fruits of his own labors.

BASIL; But if you confess that those things have come to you from God, is God then unjust in distributing to us unequally. Why do you abound while another begs? unless that you should gain the rewards of a good stewardship, and be honored with the meed of patience. Are not you then a robber, for counting as your own what you have received to distribute? It is the bread of the famished which you receive, the garment of the naked which you hoard in your chest, the shoe of the barefooted which rots in your possession, the money of the penniless which you have buried in the earth. Wherefore then do you injure so many to whom you might be a benefactor.

CHRYS. But in this he errs, that he thinks those things good which are indifferent. For there are some things good, some evil, some between the two. The good are chastity, and humility, and the like, which when a man chooses he becomes good. But opposed to these are the evil, which when a man chooses he becomes bad; and there are the neutral, as riches, which at one time indeed are directed to good, as to almsgiving, at other times to evil, as to covetousness. And in like manner poverty at one time leads to blasphemy, at another to wisdom, according to the disposition of the user.

CYRIL; The rich man then builds barns which last not, but decay, and what is still more foolish, reckons for himself upon a long life; for it follows, And I will say to my Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years. But, O rich man, you have indeed fruits in your barns, but as for many years whence can you obtain them?

ATHAN. Now if any one lives so as to die daily, seeing that our life is naturally uncertain, he will not sin, for the greater fear destroys very much pleasure, but the rich man on the contrary, promising to himself length of life, seeks after pleasures, for he says Rest, that is, from toil, eat, drink, and be merry, that is, with great luxury.

BASIL; You are so careless with respect to the goods of the soul, that you ascribe the meats of the body to the soul. If indeed it has virtue, if it is fruitful in good works, if it clings to God, it possesses many goods, and rejoices with a worthy joy. But because you art altogether carnal and subject to the passions, you speak from your belly, not from your soul.

CHRYS. Now it behoves us not to indulge in delights which fattening the body make lean the soul, and bring a heavy burden upon it, and spread darkness over it, and a thick covering, because in pleasure our governing part which is the soul becomes the slave, but the subject part, namely the body, rules. But the body is in need not of luxuries but of food, that it may be nourished, not that it may be racked and melt away. For not to the soul alone are pleasures hurtful, but to the body itself, because from being a strong body it becomes weak, from being healthy diseased, from being active slothful, from being beautiful unshapely, and from youthful old.

BASIL; But he was permitted to deliberate in every thing, and to manifest his purpose, that be might receive a sentence such as his inclinations deserved. But while he speaks in secret, his words are weighed in heaven, from whence the answers come to him. For it follows, But God said to him, you fool, this night your soul shall they require of you. Hear the name of folly, which most properly belongs to you which not man has imposed, but God Himself.

GREG. The same night he was taken away, who had expected many years, that he indeed who had in gathering stores for himself looked a long time forward, should not see even tile next day.

CHRYS.; They shall require of you, for perhaps certain dread powers were sent to require it, since if when going from city to city we want a guide, much more will the soul when released from the body, and passing to a future life, need direction. On this account many times the soul rises and sinks into the deep again, when it ought to depart from the body. For the consciousness of our sins is ever pricking us, but most of all when we are going to be dragged before the awful tribunal. For when the whole accumulation of crimes is brought up again, and placed before the eyes, it astounds the mind. And as prisoners are always indeed sorrowful, but particularly at the time when they are going to be brought before the judge; so also the soul at this time is greatly tormented by sin and afflicted, but much more after it has been removed.

GREG; But in the night the soul was taken away which had gone forth in the darkness of its heart, being unwilling to have the light of consideration, so as to foresee what it might suffer. But He adds, Then whose shall those things be which you have provided

CHRYS. For here shall you leave those things, and not only reap no advantage from them, but carry a load of sins upon your own shoulders. And these things which you have laid up will for the most part come into the hands of enemies, but of thee shall an account of them be required. It follows, So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

BEDE; For such a one is a fool, and will be taken off in the night. He then who wishes to be rich toward God, will not lay up treasures for himself, but distribute his possessions to the poor.

AMBROSE; For in vain he amasses wealth who knows not how to use it. Neither are these things ours which we cannot take away with us. Virtue alone is the companion of the dead, mercy alone follows us, which gains for the dead an everlasting habitation.

Catena Aurea Luke 12

Coronation of the Virgin (San Marco Altarpiece)

Sandro Botticelli

1490-92
Tempera on panel, 378 x 258 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Catholic Almanac

Sunday, August 4

Liturgical Color: White

Today is the Memorial of St. John Vianney,
the patron saint of priests. Assigned to a
poorly attended parish, he quickly became
known for his preaching and confessional
skills. Thousands returned to the faith
because of him. He died in 1859.

Catholic Culture

Ordinary Time: August 4th

Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Daily Readings for: August 04, 2013
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Draw near to your servants, O Lord, and answer their prayers with unceasing kindness, that, for those who glory in you as their Creator and guide, you may restore what you have created and keep safe what you have restored. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

o Summer Sunday Dinner (Sample Menu)

ACTIVITIES

o Working for Others

PRAYERS

o Roman Ritual Blessing Before and After Meals: Ordinary Time (1st Plan)

Old Calendar: Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

"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 all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.

Click here for commentary on the readings in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Sunday Readings
The first reading is taken from the Book of Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:22-23 and deals with the vanity of earthly things. It discusses the problem "What value has this earthly life for man?"

The second reading is from St. Paul to the Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11 in which he urges the converts to keep their eyes on Christ with whom they have been raised up to a new spiritual level or status. They must no longer be mixed up in the sinful things of this earth. They died to all this when they died with Christ in baptism.

The Gospel is from St. Luke 12:13-21. Jesus was surrounded by a large crowd to whom he was giving his message of salvation. Some men in the crowd asked him to arbitrate in a family dispute over property. This Jesus refused to do. This interest in property gave him the occasion to teach his hearers, and all of us, in a very effective parable, the relative value of this world's goods.

The lesson of this parable is obvious to all, and it is perhaps as difficult to put into practice as it is obvious. To be in this world and not of it, to collect the necessary goods of this world by honest labor and yet remain detached from them, to possess but not be possessed by worldly riches, is an ideal to which our weak human nature responds very reluctantly.

A large percentage of Christians, however, do respond to the challenge manfully and loyally. They earn and use the goods of this world, while at the same time they keep God's laws and earn wealth for heaven. Some renounce even the right, which is theirs, to possess the necessary things of this world, by taking on themselves the vows of religion. Thus they set themselves free to devote their whole time and energy to the service of God and neighbor. Others, and they are of necessity the more numerous, have to own the world's goods in order to provide for themselves and their dependants, but, while so doing, they never let their temporal possessions come between them and their God. To do this is not easy, but God's helping grace is always available to the willing heart.

There is still a third group—those who resemble the foolish man described in the parable. Like him they are so enmeshed and ensnared in their desire to collect good things for their earthly life, that they forget that at any moment they may have to leave this earth and all they possess in it. They may not have large barns or grain-bins bursting at the seams with the fruits of their fields or their market dealings, but they have allowed their possessions, large or small, to become the prison-houses of their hearts and thoughts. In their mad rush for earthly treasure they give themselves no time to stop and think of the really important thing in life, namely, that soon they must leave this world and all it holds dear to them. But it is not the departure from this world that is to be feared. Rather, it is the arrival at another for which they have made no preparation. That other world of which they have often heard, but which they shrugged off as something fit for the weak-minded, will not open before them in all its awe-inspiring immensity. They will have a momentary glimpse of the eternal beauty and happiness that they lost for a "mess of pottage," before they enter the unending valley of sorrow which they elected for themselves when, during their period of trial, they chose earthly baubles instead of God.

This has been the fate of foolish men and women in the past. It will, also, be the fate of many more in the future. It could be my fate, too, unless I remain ever on the alert to keep myself free from the snare of worldly wealth. I must remember that it is not the quantity of this world's goods which I possess that will be my undoing, but the quality of the hold which they have on me. There are and will be millionaires in heaven, while many in the lower income-brackets will find themselves excluded.

No man will be excluded from heaven because he lawfully possessed some of this world's wealth. But a man will exclude himself from eternal happiness if he lets this world's wealth possess him to the exclusion of God.

The fate of the rich man in the parable need not, and should not, be mine. I still have time to stop building larger grain-bins and barns, and to turn my attention instead to collecting some treasure for heaven.

— Excerpted from The Sunday Readings Cycle C, Fr. Kevin O' Sullivan, O.F.M.

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Luke 12:13-21

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

“One’s life does not consist of possessions. (Luke 12:15)”

The rich fool learns to his dismay that there is more to life than what he has, or what he plans to do (build a barn, have a party). God demands a reckoning for the kind of person he has become, not for the things he has amassed.

Early in our Christian journey, we learn to look beyond possessions. We realize God is not impressed with the wealth we accumulate or the house we occupy. We try to root out greed and practice contentment. We make a special effort at being thankful for God’s good gifts.

But despite all this, we can still be tempted to think that what really matters is what we do. We make sure to attend church regularly, to obey the Ten Commandments, to watch our language, and to give to charities. Of course, we should do all of these, but we run the risk of turning them into ends in themselves. We run the risk of proving ourselves on the basis of what we are able to do.

The heart of being a Christian is who we are, not what we have or what we do. We become precious and valuable to God the moment we are conceived, and we remain his beloved even in our old age, when we are once more totally dependent on other people.

This kind of logic—the logic of divine love—is the basis of the Church’s teachings on life issues. In a society that determines a person’s value based on what he or she can produce, we proclaim that value comes from love, not productivity. In a world that looks upon the elderly, the disabled, and the unwanted as problems to be solved, we proclaim them as gifts to be treasured and protected.

The rich fool in today’s parable made a tragic miscalculation. May we, through our words and through our witness, help turn the tide for other people. May we create a world where every life is valued!

“Father, thank you your unconditional love. Let everything I do express that love.”

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23 Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14, 17 Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11

Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion

1. In spite of the negative tone in the first reading from Ecclesiastes, there is still an important message the Lord wants to convey to us in how we should live out our daily lives. How would you characterize this message?

2. The responsorial psalm, like the first reading, also appears to speak negatively of our earthly life. Yet, once again, the author has an important lesson he wants us to learn from the seemingly insignificance of our life when compared to the Lord’s “gracious care.” What do you think that lesson is? How does it relate to your life as a Christian?

3. In the letter to the Colossians, St. Paul says that we have been “raised with Christ,” but he also says that we have “died and our life is hidden with Christ.” What does St. Paul say should be happening in our daily lives as a result of being raised with Christ and as a result of having died in Christ? What steps can you take to make these a greater reality in your life?

4. The Gospel reading ends with the following verse after Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool, “Thus will it be for all who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God” (Luke 12:21). How does your earthly bank account compare to your heavenly one? What are some of the things you can do as Christians that can increase your heavenly riches – not only individually but also with others?

5. In the meditation, we hear these words: “The heart of being a Christian is who we are, not what we have or what we do. We become precious and valuable to God the moment we are conceived, and we remain his beloved even in our old age, when we are once more totally dependent on other people.” Do you agree or disagree with these words? Why? If you agree, what difference does knowing you are “precious and valuable to God” and “his beloved” make in how you live it out your Christian life? What steps can you take to make this a greater reality in your life?

6. Take some time now to pray and ask your heavenly Father for the grace to know more deeply his unconditional love and for the grace to live out this reality as a new creation in Christ. Use the prayer at the end of the meditation as a starting point.

THE FOOLISH RICH MAN

03 Aug

THE FOOLISH RICH MAN

(A biblical reflection on the 18^th ORDINARY SUNDAY [Year C] – August 4, 2013)

Gospel Reading: Luke 12:13-21

First Reading: Eccles 1:2; 2:21-23; Psalms: Ps 90:3-6,12-14,17; Second Reading: Col 3:1-5.9-11

The Scripture Text:

One of the multitude said to Him, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Lk 12:13-21 RSV)

In His parable of the foolish rich man, Jesus pointed out that true life does not consist in having an abundance of possessions but in being rich in the sight of God. St. Paul also made this point when he encouraged the Colossians to set their minds “on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2).

Love of earthly possessions, and the never-ending desire of more of them, only does us harm in the long run. Jesus knew that the more clearly we understand who we are and why we are here, the more fully we will seek after the heavenly treasures of life with Him and the more fully we will give our hearts to our brothers and sisters in Christ. The rich man in Jesus’ parable learned too late that material possessions cannot give true life.

Of course, our earthly possessions are gifts from God, resources over which He wants us to be good stewards. If God blesses us with an abundance of earthly goods, we should be grateful to the Lord and strive to us them in ways that best serve Him and others. As we take steps toward becoming “rich toward God” (Luke 12:21), we also open our hearts more to Jesus’ love and allow His Holy Spirit to fill us with more and more of the treasures of the Kingdom.

Now, the problems are: Do we (you and I) believe that the Holy Spirit is the greatest treasure we can ever have? Do we believe that through the Holy Spirit we can learn how to place love of God and love of neighbor ahead of self-love and earthly gain? None of us should feel that we have no way out of the selfishness and greed we often see in our hearts. We should never sell ourselves – or God – short and think that living for this life alone is enough to truly satisfy us. Let the Holy Spirit teach us to seek first the Kingdom of God and to trust that our heavenly Father will provide us with everything we need for life in this world (see Matthew 6:33).

Prayer: Holy Spirit God, come into my life more fully. Teach me to value the treasures of the Kingdom of God, and so come to possess them. Help me to consider the needs of others before my own, and keep me focused on things above, rather than on the things of this world. Amen.

A Christian Pilgrim

STANDING WITH THE POOR

04 Aug

STANDING WITH THE POOR

(A biblical reflection on the 18^th Sunday in Ordinary Time [Year C] – August 4, 2013)

First Reading: Eccles 1:2; 2:21-23; Psalms: Ps 90:3-6,12-14,17; Second Reading: Col 3:1-5.9-11; Gospel Reading: Luke 12:13-21

God is the richness of our pilgrimage. The mind that is set on returning to God will not settle for material security or empty wealth.

Jesus was rich, divinely rich, infinitely rich. Yet He chose to be poor. Why? “To make you rich out of His poverty” (2Cor 8:9).

Jesus was rich …… if we regard power and possessions as part of being rich. For He was Lord of the universe. Yet He chose to be born in the poverty of homelessness, amid the crude comforts of an animal shelter. And on His travels He had nowhere of His own to lay His head.

Jesus was rich …… if we consider an integrated personality as part of being rich. Yet He came as a physician to the infirm and unhealthy.

Jesus was rich in wisdom and understanding. Yet He submitted to the poverty of being misunderstood and deliberately misrepresented.

Jesus was rich in His own celebration of life. And He restored life to others. Yet He accepted the ultimate poverty of death.

Jesus, the Word of the Father, whom the heavens cannot altogether contain, chose the poverty of human flesh, and the poverty of bread and wine to contain His presence.

The Church, as the community of the disciples of Jesus Christ, has no alternative but to imitate the choice of the Master to be with the poor. In the early centuries the disciples were the Church of the poor. To be a disciple then, one belonged to a powerless, oppressed and illegal organization.

When peace was made with the empire, gradually the Church grew wealthy and increasingly gained political power. While it is undeniable that abuses were many, yet the Church always had a conscience about the poor and in every age mothered charitable organizations which redeemed captives, freed slaves, helped lepers, founded schools and built hospitals, fed the hungry and protected people against usury. It was then a Church for the poor.

A new era dawned for the Church when it lost its last political dominions a hundred years ago, although it took quite a while to come to terms with this new situation. Today, as the gap between rich and poor appears unbridgeable and as long as injustices are accepted as part of the fabric of society without any reproach of conscience, it is no longer sufficient for the Church to stand apart while continuing to give charitable hand-outs. The Church is taking up a more radical stance and becoming a Church with the poor.

Jesus was rich in many ways but chose to be with us in our needs, “so that through His poverty you might become rich.” The Church too is rich in many ways – in possessions, in having a respected voice, in educational experience, in a long tradition of caring ministries and in many other ways. These forms of riches must be put at the disposal of the poor so that the curse of poverty will be removed and the sickness of injustice healed.

When the Church stands with the poor, only then is it true to the way of Jesus Christ.

Note: Taken from Fr. Silvester O’Flynn OFMCap., THE GOOD NEWS OF LUKE’S YEAR, Dublin, Ireland: Cathedral Books/The Columbia Press, Revised Edition, 1991 (1994 reprinting), pages 185-187.

Marriage = One Man and One Woman Til' Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for August 4, 2013:

In today’s Gospel (Luke 12:13-21) Jesus reminds us life does not consist of possessions. If you and your spouse constantly argue about material things, maybe it’s time to look at what’s most important in your marriage.

God Has a Positive Answer

Pastor’s Column

18 ^th Sunday Ordinary Time

August 4, 2013

Here is a column I ran in 2005! Perhaps it is time to hear this again. One way to take authority over our spiritual negative thinking is with passages like this from the bible. Scripture is one of the best weapons God uses to bring light to our minds.

Father Gary

YOU SAY: “It’s impossible.”

GOD SAYS: “All things are possible!” Luke 18:27

YOU SAY: "I’m too tired.”

GOD SAYS: “I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

YOU SAY: “Nobody really loves me.”

GOD SAYS: “I love you!” John 3:16, 34

YOU SAY: “I can’t go on.”

GOD SAYS: "My grace is sufficient for you.” 2 Cor 12:9

YOU SAY: “I can’t figure things out.”

GOD SAYS: “I will direct your steps.” Proverbs 3:5-8

YOU SAY: “I can’t do it.”

GOD SAYS: “You can do all things.” Philippians 4:13

YOU SAY: “I am not able.”
GOD SAYS: “I am able.” 2 Corinthians 9:8

YOU SAY: “I feel all alone.”

GOD SAYS: "I will never leave you or forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

YOU SAY: “I’m worried or frustrated.”

GOD SAYS: “Cast all your cares on me.” 1 Peter 5:7

YOU SAY: “I can’t manage.”

GOD SAYS: “I will supply all your needs.” Philippians 4:19

YOU SAY: “I can’t forgive myself.”

GOD SAYS: “I forgive you.” 1 John 1:9

St. Paul Center Blog

The Fool’s Vanity: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted by Dr. Scott Hahn on 08.01.13 |

Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
Luke 12:13-21

Trust in God - as the Rock of our salvation, as the Lord who made us His chosen people, as our shepherd and guide. This should be the mark of our following of Jesus.

Like the Israelites we recall in this week’s Psalm, we have made an exodus, passing through the waters of Baptism, freeing us from our bondage to sin. We too are on a pilgrimage to a promised homeland, the Lord in our midst, feeding us heavenly bread, giving us living waters to drink (see 1 Corinthians 10:1-4).

We must take care to guard against the folly that befell the Israelites, that led them to quarrel and test God’s goodness at Meribah and Massah.

We can harden our hearts in ways more subtle but no less ruinous. We can put our trust in possessions, squabble over earthly inheritances, kid ourselves that what we have we deserve, store up treasures and think they’ll afford us security, rest.

All this is “vanity of vanities,” a false and deadly way of living, as this week’s First Reading tells us.

This is the greed that Jesus warns against in this week’s Gospel. The rich man’s anxiety and toil expose his lack of faith in God’s care and provision. That’s why Paul calls greed “idolatry” in the Epistle this week. Mistaking having for being, possession for existence, we forget that God is the giver of all that we have, we exalt the things we can make or buy over our Maker (see Romans 1:25).

Jesus calls the rich man a “fool” - a word used in the Old Testament for someone who rebels against God or has forgotten Him (see Psalm 14:1).

We should treasure most the new life we have been given in Christ and seek what is above, the promised inheritance of heaven. We have to see all things in the light of eternity, mindful that He who gives us the breath of life could at any moment - this night even - demand it back from us.

Sunday Scripture Study

Scriiptture Sttudy

Eighteenth Sunday in Easter– Cycle C

Opening prayerrayer

Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23 (Ps 90:3-6,12-14,17) Colossians 3:1-5,9-11 Luke 12:13-21

Overview of the Gospel:

• Since last Sundays Gospel where Jesus taught his disciples the Our Father, he has driven a

demon out a mute man, been accused of using the power of Beelzebul the prince of the

demons, has taught several parables, and confronted the Pharisees by pronouncing a series

of woes upon them for their hypocrisy (Luke 11:14—12:12).

• As he takes time from his journey to Jerusalem to teach the crowds, someone approaches him

and asks him to make a judgment on a financial matter (verse 13).

• It was not uncommon for rabbis to be called upon to settle such disputes (see Numbers 27:1-

11 and Deuteronomy 21:15ff). Jesus, however, refuses to get involved. Instead, he uses the

occasion to warn against the dangers of materialism and greed. He then tells a parable which

is known as the Parable of the Rich Fool.

Questions:

• In the First Reading what is the lament of the writer, Qoheleth (the name means “The

Preacher”)? If earthly treasure is not lasting and “You can’t take it with you,” what kind of

treasure does last? How does the Second Reading reinforce this point?

• Why does Jesus refuse to settle the dispute of the person in verses 13-14? How would you

react if he refused to settle your dispute, but told a parable instead?

• In the parable of the rich fool, what is the man’s problem? His solution? Why is he a fool?

What is the “punch line”?

• When have you been like the man in this story?

• Advertising is dedicated to making us believe the opposite of verse 15. What difference in

lifestyle results from believing Jesus versus advertisements?

• In planning an investment portfolio to become “rich in what matters to God,” what will you do

this week? This year?

• The thing we most set our heart on is our highest treasure (Matthew 6:21). What do you

treasure the most?

Catechism of the Catholic Church: §§ 2535-36, 2544-48, 2551

Closing prayer

A person who lives as if he were to die everyday—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 pleasure. -- St. Athanasius

Insight Scoop

Money, Vanity, and Eternity

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for August 4, 2013, the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Ecc 1:2; 2:21-23
• Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17
• Col 3:1-5, 9-11
• Lk 12:13-21

I know Christians who believe that people should be able to be as wealthy as they can possibly be, as long as they acquire their wealth fairly and squarely. And I know Christians who believe that any evidence of wealth—a nice car, a big home, or expensive vacations—is clear evidence of spiritual failing and moral corruption. I’ve even heard Christians misquote Paul and say, “Money is the root of all evils” Of course, Paul actually warned against the “love of money” (1 Tim. 6:10).

The Catholic tradition, rooted in teachings such as those heard in today’s Gospel reading, takes a direct, even simple, approach to wealth. “Riches are not forbidden,” wrote St. John Chrysostom, “but the pride of them is.” He also warned, “Nothing is more fallacious than wealth.” St. John Baptiste de la Salle, the patron saint of teachers, stated: “It is not a sin to have riches, but it is a sin to fix our hearts upon them.” The question we need to ask ourselves when it comes to wealth is the same question we need to consider when it comes to talents, abilities, and opportunities: “What am I going to do with it? And, why? For what end?”

Today’s reading from Ecclesiastes provides a stark reminder of the ultimate issues at stake. “All things are vanity!” declares the teacher Qoheleth, and it might seem, at first glance, as though he is advocating or giving into despair. But he is simply following materialism to its logical end, which is emptiness, sorrow, and grief. The man who seeks comfort, distraction, and ultimate meaning in material possessions will be left holding sand at the edges of eternity. This approach to life is without foundation. “The materialist,” quipped G. K. Chesterton, “is one who will serve anything visible for no reason.”

Yet wealth and possessions are not, in themselves, bad. It is just that they cannot give meaning, offer true happiness, or provide comfort in the face of suffering, death, and the afterlife. That is the essential point of the parable told by Jesus. The rich man has more than enough food and wealth for himself; he has physical comfort and a surplus of harvest. But what is his first thought upon seeing the surplus? Does he think of how he might share it with others? No, he turns further into himself and turns away from others. “He does not raise his eyes to God,” reflected St. Cyril of Jerusalem, “He does not cherish love for the poor or desire the esteem it gains. … Still more irrational, he settles for himself the length of his day, as if he would also reap this from the ground.”

So we see that the love of wealth is, ultimately, the love of self—or, better, the lust of self. There is no gratitude, no thanksgiving, no humility, only the desire to “rest, eat, drink, be merry!” Contrast those four actions—all of them aimed at the rich man’s physical comfort—with four actions and attitudes expressed by Paul in his letter to the Christians living in Colossae, in Asia Minor.

First, he states, we have been “raised with Christ.” This is entirely God’s gracious gift, granted through baptism (cf. Rom. 6:1-11). Secondly, having been raised with Christ, we are to “seek what is above,” that is, the things of God. Thus, in the “Our Father,” we say, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Third, we are to “think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” This is an exhortation to both intellectual reflection and spiritual contemplation. And, fourth, we are to “put to death” those parts of us that “are earthly,” for we have, by God’s power, “put on the new self.”

We sometimes must choose between physical comfort and spiritual conversion. And while wealth is not evil, it should be approached with caution and used with care. The real riches are those things that matter to God.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the August 1, 2010, issue of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Regnum Christi

Love’s Labor Found

| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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."

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe you want me to have faith in you, faith that hearkens to your words without any second guessing. I hope in your words, not relying solely on my own strength or reasoning. I love you. You continue to astonish me by showing me that your ways are not my ways.

Petition: Lord, may I love you with all my heart, mind, soul and strength.

1. Love’s Labor Lost: “Take care to guard against all greed.…” Greed arises when our heart loves material things and possessions in selfish and disordered ways. God created “things” – material reality – for a purpose: to help us fulfill our mission in this life. Our heart can grow to love these things and to love accumulating wealth for its own sake, not for the sake of using it to fulfill our mission and save our soul.

2. Focused Love: Jesus has called us to “love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, with all your strength and with all your mind.” But we only have one heart, one soul, one will and one mind. If I love material wealth in a disordered way, then my one heart, one soul, etc. will be divided and pulled in many directions simultaneously. Not only will I not be able to love God with a total, faithful, focused love, I will not be able to love anyone in this way. No matter whom I love, my love will always be weakened and diluted by a divided heart.

3. Late Have I Loved… “Late have I loved You, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved You. You were within me, and I looked outside; I sought you, and miserable as I was, I longed for creatures, I was detained by the wonderful works of your hands” (St. Augustine, Confessions). What dilutes my love is disordered affection for the things God created. Our heart is capable of loving multiple persons and things (God, parents, children, friends), but only to the degree it is capable of focusing on one of them. Loving God first is like using a magnifying glass: The rays of sunlight, like the affection and love we have for numerous persons and things, are united by the glass and magnified into a more powerful beam. When we love God first, our love for others and the world increases in intensity.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, you created my heart to love. Often I fall in love with the things you created. I can even begin to love them more than you, to forget that you are their Creator and that you have given them to me to lead me to you. Help me to love you above them all, and to thank and bless you in a thousand ways.

Resolution: Today I will take stock of my loves to make sure they don’t compete with my love for God.

One Bread, One Body

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All Issues > Volume 29, Issue 5

<< Sunday, August 4, 2013 >>

18th Sunday Ordinary Time

Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
View Readings

Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14, 17
Luke 12:13-21
Similar Reflections

FOOL'S GOLD

"All things are vanity!" —Ecclesiastes 1:2

King Solomon, who is credited with writing the book of Ecclesiastes, was one of the richest people in history (see 1 Kgs 10:14ff). He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines (1 Kgs 11:3). He could get anything he wanted any time he wanted. Many people today are trying hard to become more like Solomon. They want to be able to relax "for years to come," "eat heartily, drink well," and enjoy themselves (Lk 12:19). Solomon, who ought to know, says they are fools (see Lk 12:20), for "all things are vanity!" (Eccl 1:2)

"What profit does he show who gains the whole world and destroys himself in the process?" (Lk 9:25) "You are not to spend what remains of your earthly life on human desires but on the will of God. Already you have devoted enough time to what the pagans enjoy" (1 Pt 4:2-3). Therefore, "set your heart on what pertains to higher realms where Christ is seated at God's right hand. Be intent on things above rather than on things of earth" (Col 3:1-2).

Prayer: Father, send the Holy Spirit to help me get in touch with reality.

Promise: "What you have done is put aside your old self with its past deeds and put on a new man, one who grows in knowledge as he is formed anew in the image of his Creator." —Col 3:9-10

Praise: Praise Jesus, Who has freed us to live for the works of God (Eph 2:10). Glory be to God forever!

40 Days for Life in Riverside, California

After so many years of legalized abortion, many people of faith are experiencing a renewed sense of HOPE!

Continue to pray to end abortion!