Luke 12: 13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But 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?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Who Do You Serve?
Years ago, Bob Dylan had a song titled “Gotta Serve Somebody”.
Who do you ultimately serve?
Do you serve ultimately to amass wealth, status, or power?
Whom we serve is often linked to whom we belong to or who or what has power over us.
Jesus is telling us that these material earthly things are transitory. They will not last nor fulfill us and we should view these as gifts from God for us to utilize only as long as they serve to do God’s will.
This is known as spiritual indifference. The Jesuit First Principle Foundation in the Spiritual Exercises asks us to do the same!
Jesus wants us to hold all this “lightly” and we pray for the ability to do so and serve the greater glory of God (AMDG).
Amen.
—Dr. Sajit U. Kabadi is the Assistant Principal for Mission, Ministry, and Diversity at Regis Jesuit High School in Colorado.
Prayer
The goal of our life is to live with God forever. God, who loves us, gave us life. Our own response of love allows God’s life to flow into us without limit.
All the things in this world are gifts of God, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily.
As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God insofar as they help us develop as loving persons. But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives, they displace God and so hinder our growth toward our goal.
In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice and are not bound by some obligation. We should not fix our desires on health or sickness, wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one. For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God.
Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening his life in me.
—First Principle and Foundation from the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola as translated by Fr. David Fleming, SJ
Pray with the Pope
Pray with the monthly prayer intentions of the pope.