August 3, 2025
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 114
Reading 1
Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill,
and yet to another who has not labored over it,
he must leave property.
This also is vanity and a great misfortune.
For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart
with which he has labored under the sun?
All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation;
even at night his mind is not at rest.
This also is vanity.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm
90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17
R. (1) If today you hear his voice, harden not your
hearts.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died,
and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ your life appears,
then you too will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,
and the greed that is idolatry.
Stop lying to one another,
since you have taken off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self,
which is being renewed, for knowledge,
in the image of its creator.
Here there is not Greek and Jew,
circumcision and uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, slave, free;
but Christ is all and in all.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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 all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080325.cfm
Commentary on
Ecclesiastes 1:2,2:21-23; Colossians 3:1-5,9-11; Luke 12:13-21
Our attitude to material things is the subject of today’s
readings. It is about the things that we really regard important in our lives.
The readings also suggest that what we are is of far greater
importance than what we have.
The Gospel begins by introducing a man who wants Jesus to
act as a mediator in a property dispute:
Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance
with me.
It was quite common to bring such disputes to a rabbi to be
solved. But Jesus has no interest whatever in dealing with this problem because
it represents a point of view that is totally at variance with his own.
Instead, Jesus gives a warning:
Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed,
for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.
It is possible that the man making the request was actually
one of Jesus’ followers. If that was the case, he needed to learn very quickly
that such problems have nothing whatever to do with the following of Jesus—with
being a Christian.
A different agenda
It was quite irrelevant for Jesus that the man should get a fair share of an
inheritance, especially if the man can satisfy his daily needs without it.
This, of course, is not the way ‘normal’ people think. They would be prepared
to hire lawyers and go through expensive court proceedings in order to get
money that they believed was due to them—whether they needed it or not. We have
frequently seen families torn apart in bitter disputes over the allocation of
money.
So many dream some day of being rich, to be able to buy all
the things they would love to have, to be able to travel, to have no worries.
There is a belief, which we see contradicted every single day, that once we
have financial security, all our problems will be solved: housing, children’s
education, cars and other desirable luxuries, retirement and old age. Wealth,
it is believed, is a sign of ‘success’, though it is not quite clear where the
‘success’ really lies. It also brings respect and status. Some dream of being
able to drive up in a luxury car to a big hotel or exclusive club, hand the
keys over to a hotel attendant, sit down at an expensive dinner table and
knowingly peruse the wine list, and while waiting for the dinner to be served,
to make a few calls on the mobile phone, get nods of recognition from other
successful people who can also afford to dine at this place—what a life!
Quite honestly, for many of us Christians these priorities
often take precedence over our following of Christ. Sincere young people want
to establish their careers first—and once set up, then maybe consider being a
“good” Catholic.
Another approach
Today’s readings ask us to consider another approach altogether. It is
important to emphasise that Jesus is not saying, “You must give up all these
things and lead a life of bleak misery for my sake.” On the contrary, Jesus is
offering a much more secure way to happiness and a life of real enjoyment
rather than the way that most people insist on believing in, even though it is
seen to fail again and again. Against the greed that obsesses many people,
Jesus offers an opposite alternative to security and happiness—sharing.
How many can identify with the rich man in the parable that
Jesus tells today? In his own eyes, this man had been really ‘successful’. He
had just made a ‘killing’ not on the stock exchange, but in a particularly good
harvest. It was so good he would have to pull down his barns and build even
bigger ones. And then he could sit back and say to himself:
Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax,
eat, drink, be merry.
He had worked very hard all these years and this was what he
deserved.
It is worth observing, however, that no other people are
mentioned in the story. He himself was the absolute centre of
everything—nothing else mattered, no one else mattered. The world and all its
goods were there purely and simply for him to take hold of and keep for
himself. And now there was nothing else to do but to enjoy it all.
But this was not to be the case:
God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is
being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
“How much did he leave?” someone asked of a
multi-billionaire who had just died. “Every cent,” was the answer. Or as
Ecclesiastes today puts it:
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity…sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and
knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil
for it.
All the laborious days one spent, the cares of office, the
restless nights—none of it matters in the end.
Jesus continues:
So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves
but are not rich toward God.
Jesus is not opposed to being prosperous, if there is no
inequality, but he suggests that true and enduring wealth lies elsewhere. The rich
and the poor both share the same common fate—they die. But to whom much was
given, much is expected.
A better alternative
We get some hints of a better alternative in the Second Reading, which is from
the Letter to the Colossians:
…if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things
that are above, where Christ is…Set your minds on the things that are above,
not on the things that are on earth…
Not very practical advice, I hear you saying. But Paul is
not telling us to close our eyes to mundane realities and, hoping for the best,
keep looking heavenwards. Rather he is urging us to identify our understanding
of life, our values, with those of God, which have been communicated to us by
the life and words of Jesus. Paul continues:
Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly…
By this he means a God-less, materialistic mentality. And
then he goes on to list some “earthly” activities:
…sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and
greed (which is idolatry).
As well, Paul says:
Do not lie to one another…
Lying can take many forms as it includes every kind of
deceit, pretending to be what we are not and denying the truth in ourselves and
in the world around us.
In following Christ’s way, Paul tells us we should see that
we have:
…stripped off the old self with its practices
and…clothed [ourselves] with the new self…
Our “new self” should share the same vision of life and the
same value system and the same goals as those that Jesus proposes. It involves:
…being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its
creator.
This is a knowledge that is not found in university courses,
but rather in a deep insight and understanding of what life is really about. In
this, Jesus is the perfect model. To grow more and more like Jesus is to grow
more and more into the image of God, by whom and for whom we were created.
In the kind of society that is the Kingdom, we do not need
the security of an inheritance or winning the lottery. Our security comes from
being part of a loving and caring community taking care of each member’s needs.
But even in the Church, which is the visible sign of that Kingdom, this kind of
society, with some exceptions, has not yet been put in place. We still tend to
believe that, if we do not look after ‘No. 1’ (ourselves), no one else will.
The society that is the Kingdom involves a life of total
immersion in and involvement with other people and our environment. The old
divisions which are the curse of so much living must fall away:
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the
same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.
(Rom 10:12)
Today Paul says there is no distinction between:
circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian,
enslaved and free…
As well, we could add, there is no room for distinction between
Chinese, European, Filipino, Vietnamese or American as well. Rather:
…Christ is all and in all!
It is with Jesus that the security people long for lies.
Real security is not in the future. Genuine security is in the here and now.
And it is this security that is the real wealth we dream of. Material plenty by
itself does not guarantee it. Real security is there for the asking, but most
of us cannot see. We must pray like Bartimaeus:
My teacher, let me see… (Mark 10:51)
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/oc181/
Sunday,
August 3, 2025
18th Sunday
in Ordinary Time
Let Us Recollect Ourselves in Prayer – Statio
We are here before You Oh Holy
Spirit; we feel the weight of our weakness, but we have all gathered here in
your name; come to us, help us, come to our hearts; teach us what we should do,
show us the path that we should follow, fulfil what You ask of us. You alone be
the one to suggest and to guide our decisions, because You alone, with God the
Father and with your Son, have a holy and glorious name; do not allow justice
to be hurt by us, you who love order and peace; may ignorance not cause us to
deviate; may human sympathy not render us partial, nor charges or persons
influence us; keep us close to You so that we may not drift away from truth in
anything; help us, we who are meeting in your name, to know how to contemplate
goodness and tenderness together, so as to do everything in harmony with you,
in the hope that by the faithful fulfilment of our duty we may be given the
eternal reward in the future. Amen.
Prayerful Reading of the Word
Gospel Reading - Luke 12: 13-21:
13 A man in the crowd said to him, 'Master, tell my brother to
give me a share of our inheritance.' 14 He said to him, 'My friend, who
appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?' 15 Then he said to
them, 'Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for life does
not consist in possessions, even when someone has more than he needs.' 16 Then
he told them a parable, 'There was once a rich man who, having had a good
harvest from his land, 17 thought to himself, "What am I to do? I have not
enough room to store my crops." 18 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, 19 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." 20 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?" 21 So it is when someone stores up treasure for himself instead of
becoming rich in the sight of God.'
To Ponder the Word – Meditatio
Key to the Reading:
The text proposed by the Liturgy for the 18th
Sunday of Ordinary Time forms part of a quite long discourse of Jesus on trust
in God which drives away every fear (Lk 12: 6-7) and on abandonment to God’s
Providence (Lk 12: 22-23). The passage for today in fact, is precisely, in the
middle of these two texts. Here are some of the teachings given by Jesus,
before he was interrupted by that “one of the crowd” (Lk 12: 13), about this
trust and abandonment:
•
Lk 12:
4-7: 'To you my friends I say: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body
and after that can do no more. I will tell you whom to fear: fear him who,
after he has killed, has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, he is
the one to fear. Can you not buy five sparrows for two pennies? And yet not one
is forgotten in God's sight. Why, every hair on your head has been counted.
There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than many sparrows.
•
Lk 12:
11-12: 'When they take you before synagogues and magistrates and
authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say,
because when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should
say.'
It is precisely at this point that the man
interrupts Jesus’ discourse, showing his concern about the question of
inheritance (Lk 12: 13). Jesus preaches and says not to have “fear of those who
kill the body and then can do nothing else” (Lk 12: 4) and this man does not
perceive the meaning of the words of Jesus addressed to those whom he
recognizes as “my friends” (Lk 12: 4). From the Gospel of John, we know that a
friend of Jesus is the one who knows Jesus. In other words, knows everything
that he has heard from the Father (Jn 15: 15). The friend of Jesus should know
that his Master is deeply rooted in God (Jn 1: 1) and that his only concern is
to seek to do the Will of the one who has sent him (Jn 4: 34). The advice and
the example of Jesus given to his friends is not to worry or be troubled for
material things because “life is worth more than food and the body worth more
than the dress” (Mt 6: 25). In an eschatological context Jesus admonishes:
“Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened by debauchery and
drunkenness and the cares of life” (Lk 21: 34).
This is why the question of the
man who asks Jesus to tell “his brother to give me a share of our inheritance
(Lk 12: 13) is superfluous before the Lord. Jesus refuses to act as judge
between the parties (Lk 12: 14) like in the case of the adulterous woman (Jn 8:
2-11). We can see that for Jesus it is not important whom of these two is
right. He remains neutral before the question between the two brothers because
his Kingdom is not of this world (Jn 18: 36). This behavior of Jesus reflects
the image which Luke gives us of the Lord, meek and humble. The accumulation of
material goods, the inheritance, fame, power, do not form part of the hierarchy
of values of Jesus. In fact, he uses the question of the two brothers to repeat
and confirm that “life does not depend on goods” (Lk 12: 15) even if they are
abundant.
As usual, here too Jesus teaches
by means of a parable, in which he presents “a rich man” (Lk 12: 16) we would
say an insatiable, never satisfied rich man who does not know what to do with
his goods which are so abundant. (Lk 12: 17). This man reminds us of the rich
man who closes himself in self and is not aware of the misery of the poor
Lazarus (Lk 16: 1-31). It is certain that we cannot define this rich man as
just. Just is the one who like Job shares with the poor the goods received from
God’s Providence: “because I helped the poor who asked for help, the orphan who
had no helper. The dying man’s blessing rested on me and I gave the widow’s heart
cause to rejoice” (Jb 29: 12-13). The rich of the parable is a foolish man (Lk
12: 20) who has his heart full of goods received, forgetting God, the Supreme
and only One who is good. He “accumulates treasures for himself, but is not
enriched before God” (Lk 12: 21). In his foolishness he is not aware that
everything is bestowed freely from God’s Providence, not only his goods but
also his life. The terminology used in the parable makes us remark this:
•
The harvest: “The land […] had given a good
harvest” (Lk 12: 16)
•
The life: “This very night the demand will be made for your soul” (Lk
12: 20). It is not wealth in itself which constitutes the foolishness of this
man but it is his avarice and greed which reveal his foolishness. In fact, he
says: “My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come;
take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time” (Lk 12: 19).
The attitude of the wise man instead is very
diverse. We see this for example embodied in the person of Job who with great
detachment, exclaims: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I shall return
again. Yahweh gave, Yahweh has taken back. Blessed be the name of Yahweh!” (Jb
1: 21). The wisdom tradition has handed down or transmitted to us some
teachings on the right attitude to have before riches: Pr 27: 1; Si 11: 19; Qo
2: 17-23; 5: 17-6,
2. The New Testament also admonishes on this point: Mt 6:
19-34; I Co 15: 32; Jm 4: 13-15; Rev. 3: 17-18.
Questions:
•
What struck you most in this passage and in the
reflection?
•
What does it mean for you that Jesus remains
neutral before the question of the rich man?
•
Do you believe that avarice has something to do
which is strictly linked to the social condition in which one finds himself?
•
Do we believe in God’s Providence?
•
Are you conscious or aware that what you possess
has been given to you by God, or rather do you feel that you are the absolute
master of your goods?
Oratio
1
Chronicles 29: 10-19
'May you be blessed, Yahweh,
God of Israel our ancestor, forever and forever! Yours, Yahweh, is the
greatness, the power, the splendor, length of days and glory, everything in
heaven and on earth is yours. Yours is the sovereignty, Yahweh; you are
exalted, supreme overall.
Wealth and riches come from you,
you are ruler of all, in your hand lie strength and power, and you bestow
greatness and might on whomsoever you please. So now, our God, we give thanks
to you and praise your majestic name, for who am I and what is my people, for
us to be able to volunteer offerings like this? - since everything has come
from you and we have given you only what you bestowed in the first place, and
we are guests before you, and passing visitors as were all our ancestors, our
days on earth fleeting as a shadow and without hope. Yahweh our God, all this
wealth, which we have provided to build a house for your holy name, has come
from you and all belongs to you.
'Knowing, my God, how you examine our motives
and how you delight in integrity, with integrity of motive I have willingly
given all this and have been overjoyed to see your people, now present here,
willingly offering their gifts to you.
Yahweh, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel our
ancestors, watch over this forever, shape the purpose of your people's heart
and direct their hearts to you, and give an undivided heart to Solomon my son
to keep your commandments, your decrees and your statutes, to put them all into
effect and to build the palace for which I have made provision.'
Contemplatio
Psalm 119: 36-37
Bend my heart to your instructions, not to selfish gain.
Avert my eyes from pointless images, by your word give me
life.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét