Gospel: Teaching About Possessions

Today is the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, and the Sunday Gospel reading will be proclaimed according to St Luke (click here for the Mass readings from USCCB).

In Chapter Twelve of St Luke's Gospel, Jesus instructs his disciples and the crowd on how to be ready for the coming judgment. A crowd of many thousands has gathered to listen to Jesus. At first, he speaks only to his disciples, reminding them that it is not persecution they should fear but the coming judgment for all who do not aknowledge the Son of Man. Suddenly a man in the crowd shouts to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me!" He seems to have grown tired of Jesus speaking only to the disciples. Jesus offers the man no help. Instead, he uses the question to teach what, in light of the coming judgment, life really consist of.

Jesus tells the crowd a parable. A rich man's lands have yielded more crops than expected. His response is not to consider how he might share all the extra food with others but to wonder how he could store it all. He has what he thinks is a brilliant idea: to tear down his present barns and build larger ones. Then he will have many things stored up for years of eating, drinking, and merry making.

"You fool" is God's response to this man because that very night his life will be taken away. To whom will everything belong then, God asks. The rich man's world is small, just him and his possessions, and now he learns that he is to lose his life. What good are his possessions now? Jesus states the moral of the story. This is how it will be for everyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.

Centuries later St Gregory the Great taught that when we care for the needs of the poor, we are giving what is theirs, not ours. We are not just performing works of mercy; we are paying a debt of justice. Life does not consist in possessions but in sharing what we possess with others. The goods of the Earth have been given to everyone to share, cultivate, and enjoy. There is no other way to live, unless we are willing to share our love for God with our neighbors, especially those who are in need.

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The Gospel is sponsored by 24 Kilates x Asics.