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| “The Gathering of the Manna” by Guido Reni, 1614-15 |
Reading 1: Ephesians
2:1-10
You were dead in your
transgressions and sins
in which you once lived
following the age of this world,
following the ruler of the
power of the air,
the spirit that is now at
work in the disobedient.
All of us once lived among
them in the desires of our flesh,
following the wishes of the
flesh and the impulses,
and we were by nature
children of wrath, like the rest.
But God, who is rich in
mercy,
because of the great love he
had for us,
even when we were dead in our
transgressions,
brought us to life with
Christ (by grace you have been saved),
raised us up with him,
and seated us with him in the
heavens in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
he might show the
immeasurable riches of his grace
in his kindness to us in
Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been
saved through faith,
and this is not from you; it
is the gift of God;
it is not from works, so no
one may boast.
For we are his handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus for good works
that God has prepared in
advance,
that we should live in them.
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Commentary on
Eph 2:1-10
In
the first half of the second chapter of St.
Paul
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm
100:1b-2, 3, 4ab, 4c-5
R. (3b) The Lord made us, we belong to him.
Shout joyfully to the LORD,
all you lands;
worship the LORD with cries
of gladness;
come before him with joyful
song.
R. The Lord made us, we belong to him.
Know that the LORD is God,
our maker to whom we belong,
whose people we are,
God's well-tended flock.
R. The Lord made us, we belong to him.
Enter the temple gates with
praise,
its courts with thanksgiving
R. The Lord made us, we belong to him.
Give thanks to God, bless his
name;
good indeed is the LORD,
Whose love endures forever,
whose faithfulness lasts
through every age.
R. The Lord made us, we belong to him.
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Commentary on
Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4ab, 4c-5
Psalm 100 is a
song of praise sung by the assembly. It affirms God’s saving grace given to His
sons and daughters through all generations.
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Gospel: Luke
12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to him
(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.”
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Commentary on
Lk 12:13-21
Jesus
uses the parable of the Rich Landowner to emphasize the need to focus on the
spiritual gifts not just on material goods. He tells the one who wishes to have
Jesus arbitrate a dispute with that person’s brother to take care against
greed.
The passage begins with Jesus
refusing to provide rabbinical guidance to a person in the crowd. Such guidance
is provided in Numbers 27:1-11 and Deuteronomy 21:15ff but the Lord saw the greed at the root of the
request. He uses the parable (found only in Luke) of the Rich Fool to emphasize
the need to focus on the spiritual gifts that do not parish not just on
material goods. He tells the one who wishes to have him arbitrate a dispute
with that person’s brother to take care against greed.
The parable has elements of other
stories used by Jesus in which the unpredictability of the end of life is
emphasized. Spoken to the crowd, the Lord tells them to focus on those
spiritual attributes without delay. St. Athanasius used these words: “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).”[4]
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Reflection:
In
the recent Olympics the world was transfixed as athletes from around the world
competed in a myriad of events. As
different as they all were, young and old, large and small, and men and women,
they had one thing in common. They all
had worked hard at their craft, mentally and physically, to get to that level
of competition.
We
wonder; how many of these elite athletes paused to consider how it was that
they were able to achieve such prominence in their sport? Did the young Chinese girls who won their
gold medals for gymnastics ever marvel at who gave them the physical and mental
attributes that allowed them to perform as they did? Did the Korean Archery Team give thanks to
God for their success?
We
do not pose these questions to be critical of other people from different
cultural backgrounds; rather we see the Olympics as analogous to our own lives,
the events as being like the challenges we face in work, school, or at
home. Like those athletes, many of us have
trained for a profession or avocation.
We work hard at whatever we do.
Yet, could we have accomplished anything if God in his infinite mercy
had not given us the gifts of life, health, and ability?
And
when we start the active parts of our lives, do we say; “I think I’ll start
slowly in order to save my strength for when I am older?” Do we procrastinate in our physical
activities, vowing to strive for physical excellence when we grow old? No, most of us worked very hard early in our
lives to acquire the physical attributes and mental skills necessary to embark
upon our chosen path. We realize that
the earlier we start and the harder we work, the more likely our potential will
be fully realized.
Holy
Scripture tells us that the same must be true of our spiritual pursuits. We cannot store up our energy, hoping to make
a sudden sprint for sainthood at the end of our days. Christ uses the story of the wealthy
landowner to emphasize this point. He
asks the crowd rhetorically; what good is saving God’s gifts to the end before
using it if we do not know when that end will come?
In
counter point or paradox, St. Paul
Today
we renew our pledge to build up our spiritual strength. We pledge once more to be faithful to our
spiritual discipline of prayer, meditation, and works of charity. When we are called home to the Heavenly
Father, may we take with us all the riches Christ gives us in a spirit worthy
of him who created us all.
Pax
[1]
ALTRE
[2]
The picture used today is “The Gathering of the Manna” by Guido Reni, 1614-15
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4]
The Navarre Bible, Gospels and Acts, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002,
pp.437.
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