October 19, 2015
Monday
29th Week in Ordinary Time 1st reading:
Romans 4:20-25
Gospel: Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd spoke to Jesus, “Master, tell my brother to share with me the family inheritance.” He replied, “My friend, who has appointed me as your judge or your attorney?” Then Jesus said to the people, “Be on your guard and avoid every kind of greed, for even though you have many possessions, it is not that which gives you life.”And Jesus continued with this story, “There was a rich man and his land had produced a good harvest. He thought: ‘What shall I do? For I am short of room to store my harvest.’ So this is what he planned: ‘I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones to store all this grain, which is my wealth. Then I may say to myself: My friend, you have a lot of good things put by for many years. Rest, eat, drink and enjoy yourself.’ But God said to him: ‘You fool! This very night your life will be taken from you; tell me who shall get all you have put aside?’ This is the lot of the one who stores up riches instead of amassing for God.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
A story is told of a dog walking down a bridge biting a bone. The dog saw its own image reflected on the water under the bridge. Thinking it was another dog with a bone in its mouth, it barked at its own shadow, and the bone fell into the water under the bridge.
The moral is: the greedy can end up with nothing. He can lose everything including his own life. As today’s Gospel warns, one must not stand secure over his bounty because night can snatch light from day any moment and with it, his own life.
In time of abundance, man becomes blind to his finite existence. So it is wise to look at this world from the prism of death. Only under death’s ultraviolet light can a person discern the true color of possessions. Consider how his abundant harvest made the man in today’s Gospel forget about the shortness of his life. Had he been aware that he could die anytime, he wouldn’t have found any sense building a very big barn to hoard the products of his farm.
The value of our existence lies in stewardship. We are only caretakers of what we have. If by our industry we produce more for having exercised responsibly our role as stewards, that degree of hard work does not entitle us to keep more than what is equitable. How much do we really need? Well, if we want peace, we should not keep so much beyond our needs. Learn from the shadow of that dog walking on the bridge. The more possessions you keep, the more selfish dogs bark at you. Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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