MONDAY of 29th WEEK, uneven numbered year
“A man in the crowd said to him, ’Master, tell my brother to give me a share of his inheritance.’ He said to him, ’My friend, 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 life does not consist in possessions, even when someone has more than he needs.”
Jesus told this parable about the resolution of a disagreement concerning a heritage. This man wished to use moral power of Jesus for his own material advantage. Mind yourselves concerning all avarice, said Jesus, putting up precautions to people about one of the most insidious ills of the human heart : avarice. Jesus is eqaully taliking to us who live in a society that exhibits the benefits that materiel riches procure. Avarice expresses an aversion of the divine order - a deviation that has humanity pass onto the other side of the point of its existence. God created man so that he would honour him and serve him. Our preoccupation must be this : to be rich of our realtionship to God in prayer , depositing in the Heart of God our burdens. Saint John of the Cross says that materiel riches are the way for man who has a perverted mind. But there is another way for a wayward mind : ’spitiutual goods’.
“And he told them this 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 things laid by for many years to come ; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.”
This farmer doesn’t have the intention of getting rid of his products at discount prices but he prefers to wait for the right moment when he will be able to sell them and make a better profit out of them. This man’s behaviour seems completely reasonable. This parable presents to us someone who has had a lucky star. Rich as he was, God blessed him with even greater riches.But nothing must be an obstacle for the path of freedom proposed by Jesus, to share with his brothers and give thanks to God. In fact our only concern is to
find ourselves ’in Christ’, to walk to the Father moved by the Holy Spirit, for God wants us all to walk towards happiness. The prayer of Our Father is a Light which lights up our path : May the name of God be honoured by the blossoming of his Love in our hearts. May the will of Love of the Lord be done. May His kingdom of Peace, of Justice, come into the Church founded by Him. So that more and more we build in the world a civilisation of Love.
“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 someone stores up treasure for himself instead of becoming rich in the sight of God.”
The problem appears when this man uses ’I’ and ’me’ and ’mine’, and that everything turns around himself : he has neither esteem nor recognition towards God’s providence. Our life doesn’t depend upon what we possess, but it is in a persepctive of eternity. To be rich in God’s eyes is to give Him what we are, in faith, and so we won’t have any other concern than that of doing God’s Will. May He make of us a more loving being, more open and available in gentleness and humility. It is in God that we place all our hope. In the Eucharist we are nourrished by the Body and Blood of Jesus so as to share and forgive as He asks of us. It is our richness that comes from God. It is by Faith that we adhere to this Treasure. God will esteem us to be upright since we have believed in Him, and believed that Jesus is our Saviour, and thanks to Him we shall bring about His Holy Will.