DAILY GOSPEL: 01/08/2010
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
ighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Book of Ecclesiastes 1:2.2:21-23.
Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
For here is a man who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and to another, who has not labored over it, he must leave his property. This also is vanity and a great misfortune.
For what profit comes to a man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?
All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation; even at night his mind is not at rest. This also is vanity.
Psalms 90(89):3-4.5-6.12-13.14.17.
But humans you return to dust, saying, "Return, you mortals!"
A thousand years in your eyes are merely a yesterday. Before a watch passes in the night,
you have brought them to their end; They disappear like sleep at dawn; they are like grass that dies.
It sprouts green in the morning; by evening it is dry and withered.
Teach us to count our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Relent, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!
Fill us at daybreak with your love, that all our days we may sing for joy.
May the favor of the Lord our God be ours. Prosper the work of our hands! Prosper the work of our hands!
Letter to the Colossians 3:1-5.9-11.
Brothers and sisters: If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.
Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator.
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12:13-21.
Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me."
He replied to him, "Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?"
Then he said to the crowd, "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions."
Then he told them a parable. "There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, 'What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?'
And he said, 'This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!"
But God said to him, 'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?'
Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God."
Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
For here is a man who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and to another, who has not labored over it, he must leave his property. This also is vanity and a great misfortune.
For what profit comes to a man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?
All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation; even at night his mind is not at rest. This also is vanity.
Psalms 90(89):3-4.5-6.12-13.14.17.
But humans you return to dust, saying, "Return, you mortals!"
A thousand years in your eyes are merely a yesterday. Before a watch passes in the night,
you have brought them to their end; They disappear like sleep at dawn; they are like grass that dies.
It sprouts green in the morning; by evening it is dry and withered.
Teach us to count our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Relent, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!
Fill us at daybreak with your love, that all our days we may sing for joy.
May the favor of the Lord our God be ours. Prosper the work of our hands! Prosper the work of our hands!
Letter to the Colossians 3:1-5.9-11.
Brothers and sisters: If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.
Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator.
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12:13-21.
Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me."
He replied to him, "Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?"
Then he said to the crowd, "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions."
Then he told them a parable. "There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, 'What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?'
And he said, 'This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!"
But God said to him, 'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?'
Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God."
Lc 12,13-21
Saint Basil (c.330-379), monk and Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, Doctor of the Church
Homily 6, on riches; PG 31, 261f.
"Rich in what matters to God"
«What shall I do? Where am I to find something to eat, something to wear?» This is what that rich man was saying. His heart aches and anxiety gnaws at him because those things that give pleasure to others oppress the miser. The fact that all his barns are full brings him no happiness. The over-abundance of wealth pouring out of his granary is what grievously disturbs his soul...
Think, O man, of him who has covered you with his bounty. Reflect on yourself a little. Who are you? What is it that has been entrusted to you? From whom have you received this responsibility? Why have you been chosen rather than a good many others? The God of all goodness has made you his steward; you have charge over your fellow servants: don't imagine that it's all been prepared for your stomach alone! So dispose of the good things you hold in your hand as though they belonged to others. The enjoyment they bring you does not last for long; very soon they will slip away and vanish; but of you a strict account will be demanded. But as for you, you guard it all under lock and key, and even though you have it all shut up, worry prevents you from sleeping...
«What shall I do?» The answer is close to hand: «I will satisfy the hungry soul, open my barns and invite all those in need... I will let them hear these generous words: 'All you who lack bread, come to me; take your share of the gifts God has granted, each to his satisfaction.»
Think, O man, of him who has covered you with his bounty. Reflect on yourself a little. Who are you? What is it that has been entrusted to you? From whom have you received this responsibility? Why have you been chosen rather than a good many others? The God of all goodness has made you his steward; you have charge over your fellow servants: don't imagine that it's all been prepared for your stomach alone! So dispose of the good things you hold in your hand as though they belonged to others. The enjoyment they bring you does not last for long; very soon they will slip away and vanish; but of you a strict account will be demanded. But as for you, you guard it all under lock and key, and even though you have it all shut up, worry prevents you from sleeping...
«What shall I do?» The answer is close to hand: «I will satisfy the hungry soul, open my barns and invite all those in need... I will let them hear these generous words: 'All you who lack bread, come to me; take your share of the gifts God has granted, each to his satisfaction.»
St. Alphonsus Liguori, bishop and Doctor of the Church (1696-1787)
SAINT ALPHONSUS MARY DE LIGUORI
Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(1696-1787)
Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(1696-1787)
St. Alphonus was born of noble parents, near Naples, in 1696. His spiritual training was intrusted to the Fathers of the Oratory in that city, and from his boyhood Alphonsus was known as a most devout Brother of the Little Oratory. At the early age of sixteen he was made doctor in law, and he threw himself into this career with ardor and success.
A mistake, by which he lost an important cause, showed him the vanity of human fame, and determined him to labor only for the glory of glory. He entered the priesthood, devoting himself to the most neglected souls; and to carry on this work he founded later the missionary Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.
At the age of sixty-six he became Bishop of St. Agatha, and undertook the reform of his diocese with the zeal of a Saint. He made a vow never to lose time, and, though his life was spent in prayer and work, he composed a vast number of books, filled with such science, unction, and wisdom that he has been declared one of the Doctors of the Church.
St. Alphonsus wrote his first book at the age of forty-nine, and in his eighty-third year had published about sixty volumes, when his director forbade him to write more. Very many of these books were written in the half-hours snatched from his labors as missionary, religious superior, and Bishop, or in the midst of continual bodily and mental sufferings. With his left hand he would hold a piece of marble against his aching head while his right hand wrote.
Yet he counted no time wasted which was spent in charity. He did not refuse to hold a long correspondence with a simple soldier who asked his advice, or to play the harpsichord while he taught his novices to sing spiritual canticles. He lived in evil times, and met with many persecutions and disappointments.
For his last seven years he was prevented by constant sickness from offering the Adorable Sacrifice; but he received Holy Communion daily, and his love for Jesus Christ and his trust in Mary's prayers sustained him to the end.
He died in 1787, in his ninety-first year.
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