GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 17TH OCTOBER 2016
MONDAY OF THE 29TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
(MEMORIAL OF SAINT IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, BISHOP, MARTYR)
1ST READING: Ephesians 2:1-10
PSALM: Psalm 100:1-5
GOSPEL: Luke 12:13-21
THEME: CHASING AFTER THE WIND
Any rich person who is honest enough would admit that though money and other material wealth bring some form of bodily comfort, they do not guarantee true lasting inner happiness and peace.
A millionaire was once asked, “What more do you need to be happy?” In response he said, “Just one more dollar”. We keep on wanting and when we have it, we continue to want. That is enough proof that material wealth can never meet the hunger of our souls.
In our Gospel text for today, Jesus sounds a note of caution to all of us, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (Lk. 12:15). He deepens this caution with the parable of the rich fool who spent all his life acquiring material wealth, becoming outwardly rich but inwardly poor, only for his life to be unexpectedly snuffed out one night.
Excessive desire for wealth, which often degenerates into greed, has led some people into all kinds of problems and complications. There are brothers and sisters from the same biological family who are not on good speaking terms because of misunderstandings on how to share properties that dead relatives have left behind. Colleagues at workplaces, in pursuit of wealth and out of greed, sometimes backbite each other so as to gain promotion and see others demoted. In some Christian communities, inordinate desire for money has brought so much hurt and pain, leading to divisions even among “men and women of God.”
Greedy people suffer from a serious pyscho-spiritual condition that has its roots in a feeling of inadequacy and insecurity. They spend their lives striving hard to secure the future in the present. In the process, many sacrifice their souls on the altar of money and material properties and later discover that the future they thought they had bought was never really theirs.
Let us thank God for the material wealth he has given each one of us, however little it may seem in our eyes. If God chooses to give you more, accept it with gratitude but never throw away your faith and virtues in pursuit of fleeting wealth; this would be chasing after the wind.
Prayer: Eternal Father “remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God” (Prov 30:7- 8).
Andrews Obeng, svd
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen).