23 October, 2023 | Mondaay of 29th Week in Ordinary Time

 Gospel Lk 12:13-21

Living successfully;...

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."

Reflections

The man in the parable saw his unexpected wealth as his due, and he made plans to keep hold of it as long as he could. Jesus shows us that the man was deluding himself. This “bumper crop” a gift from God”; so too was the life of this person. Without the gift of life, his life would be utterly useless.

Jesus indicates that anyone “who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” is foolish.

When we view our possessions, and even our very lives, as a pure and undeserved gift from God, we are

much better disposed to be generous towards others.

Activity: 

Share with others what God has generously given us.