First reading Romans 4:20-25
We must believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead
Since God had made him a promise, Abraham refused either to deny it or even to doubt it, but drew strength from faith and gave glory to God, convinced that God had power to do what he had promised. This is the faith that was ‘considered as justifying him.’ Scripture however does not refer only to him but to us as well when it says that his faith was thus ‘considered’; our faith too will be ‘considered’ if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, Jesus who was put to death for our sins and raised to life to justify us.
Responsorial Psalm Luke 1:69-75
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.
He has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
Gospel Luke 12:13-21
Fool! This very night your soul will be demanded of you
A man in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.’ ‘My friend,’ he replied, ‘who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?’ Then he said to them, ‘Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.’
Then he told them a parable: ‘There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.” 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, 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.” 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?” So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.’
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We come to this world with nothing and we leave with nothing
In today’s gospel, Jesus told a parable about a rich man who, instead of being grateful to God for his good fortune and sharing with those who may not be as privileged as he was, spent his time and energy planning on building bigger barns to store his excess crops. He thought he could then enjoy life because of the plentiful good things he had accumulated.
Jesus calls us to strive to be rich in the eyes of God and not the world’s, the world whose message for us is to hoard and amass riches for ourselves. Following Jesus’ way demands that we recognise that all we have is a gift from God and that we are called to share our resources with those in need generously. We are not meant to be hoarders but givers.
Reflective question:
Do wealth and material things occupy the central place in my life?
Do wealth and material things occupy the central place in my life?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year A” by Sr Sandra Seow FMVD.
