In today’s Gospel, Jesus instructs his disciples and the crowd on how to be ready for the coming judgment. 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 can possibly 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 making 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.

Hundreds of years later, St. Gregory the Great would teach us that when we care for the needs of the poor, we are giving them what is theirs, not ours. We are not just performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice. Life does not consist of possessions but in sharing what we possess with others. The goods of the earth have been given to everyone. Let’s all remember the importance of sharing our treasure and God’s love with others this week.

 

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Today’s reflection is adapted from the Loyola Press Sunday Connection.

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