Reading 1 ECC 1:2; 2:21-23 Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and yet to another who has not labored over it, he must leave property. This also is vanity and a great misfortune. For what profit comes to 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. Responsorial Psalm PS 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 AND 17 R. (1) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. You turn man back to dust, saying, “Return, O children of men.” For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, now that it is past, or as a watch of the night. R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. You make an end of them in their sleep; the next morning they are like the changing grass, Which at dawn springs up anew, but by evening wilts and fades. R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands! R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Reading 2 COL 3:1-5, 9-11 Brothers and sisters: If 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. Alleluia MT 5:3 R. Alleluia, alleluia. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel LK 12:13-21 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “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 all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”
FAUSTI - This parable describes the man who makes consist his own safety in the accumulation of goods . It is the opposite of the disciple whose safety is in the love of the Father and of the brothers. Our life is not in goods, but in the One who gives these to us. God's wisdom has foreseen that the satisfaction of needs that we have it become means to fill the need that we are: communion with the Father who gives and the brothers with whom we share. This is the realm of sons, our real treasure. If you don't accept your identity, you identify yourself with what you own. Instead of to serve yourself of the world as its lord , you serve it as your lord. To have more is the first clumsy attempt to save himself suggested by the fear of death. If you make depend your life by what you have, you destroy what you are. In fact the life is from the Father; for this you are the son and brother to all. If your life is from the things, He isn't Your Father any longer. Your Father and your brothers are your antagonist. And the same things that before were "by" God "for" you, these change meaning : you are "from" them and "for" them and you sacrifice your life to what have to guarantee it. What you have and own, it gives you death if you consider it as aim rather than means. You are slave of it and however much you possess,you will never be full, because other is the bread that feeds you. For deception man has abandoned the "fountain of living water, to dig broken cisterns that hold no water" (Jer 2:13): he has placed as a principle of one's own life the fear of the death, rather than the ' love of the Father' of life. The fruits of the ground are God's blessing (Deuteronomy 28). Those who receive them as a gift are blessed themselves Those who take them for a possession, they cut them from their source and ithey are cursed. To receive them as a gift means to employ them remembering that they are from the Father and for all the brothers. This concrete love of the Father and of the brothers, which espresses oneself , respectively, in praise and in mercy,it is the whole law. Whenever Israel will be living with the master spirit, Israel will go into exile. The forgetting of the gift is the path of exile; the memory and converting the return date. Moses warns the people, warning him not to say never "is my" what will be given to the promised land (Deut 8.7 to 20). Whoever wants to possess is actually possessed by what he possesses. He is no longer free, but a slave. Just as for Adam being in the garden is linked to obedience to God, so for Israel being in the promised land is linked concretely to not taking possession of the gift. God has ordered not to possess and not to accumulate, but to thank for the gift and to share. Obedience to His Word introduces one into rest (promised land), where one eats (lives), drinks (loves) and rejoices, because in satisfying primary needs one also satisfies the essential: the love of the Father and of one's brothers and sisters! Possession is contrary to thankfulness, and is against God; accumulation is contrary to sharing and is against men. The rich man, who aims to have more, isolates himself more and more from others and cages himself in his solitude. Foolishness is consumed in the complacency of goods, making them one's own life and safety. "Rest, eat, drink, enjoy": this is man's life program. Goods, in God's plan, would serve for this! But it is foolishness to believe that one can achieve it by following the path of having more. Foolishness consists in the fact that death is not avoided by what the fear of death has suggested. Fear is, in fact, bad counselor, and it throws into the arms of what is feared. The consciousness of death shows me my deepest being: my absolute solitude before Him, which can only be filled by Him, my rest, my food, my drink and my joy.
Reading 1 ECC 1:2; 2:21-23
RispondiEliminaVanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill,
and yet to another who has not labored over it,
he must leave property.
This also is vanity and a great misfortune.
For what profit comes to 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.
Responsorial Psalm PS 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 AND 17
R. (1) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Reading 2 COL 3:1-5, 9-11
Brothers and sisters:
If 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.
Alleluia MT 5:3
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel LK 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,
“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 all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.”
FAUSTI - This parable describes the man who makes consist his own safety in the accumulation of goods . It is the opposite of the disciple whose safety is in the love of the Father and of the brothers.
RispondiEliminaOur life is not in goods, but in the One who gives these to us.
God's wisdom has foreseen that the satisfaction of needs that we have it become means to fill the need that we are: communion with the Father who gives and the brothers with whom we share. This is the realm of sons, our real treasure.
If you don't accept your identity, you identify yourself with what you own.
Instead of to serve yourself of the world as its lord , you serve it as your lord.
To have more is the first clumsy attempt to save himself suggested by the fear of death.
If you make depend your life by what you have, you destroy what you are.
In fact the life is from the Father; for this you are the son and brother to all.
If your life is from the things, He isn't Your Father any longer.
Your Father and your brothers are your antagonist. And the same things that before were "by" God "for" you, these change meaning : you are "from" them and "for" them and you sacrifice your life to what have to guarantee it.
What you have and own, it gives you death if you consider it as aim rather than means.
You are slave of it and however much you possess,you will never be full, because other is the bread that feeds you.
For deception man has abandoned the "fountain of living water, to dig broken cisterns that hold no water" (Jer 2:13): he has placed as a principle of one's own life the fear of the death, rather than the ' love of the Father' of life.
The fruits of the ground are God's blessing (Deuteronomy 28).
Those who receive them as a gift are blessed themselves
Those who take them for a possession, they cut them from their source and ithey are cursed.
To receive them as a gift means to employ them remembering that they are from the Father and for all the brothers.
This concrete love of the Father and of the brothers, which espresses oneself , respectively, in praise and in mercy,it is the whole law.
Whenever Israel will be living with the master spirit, Israel will go into exile.
The forgetting of the gift is the path of exile; the memory and converting the return date.
Moses warns the people, warning him not to say never "is my" what will be given to the promised land (Deut 8.7 to 20).
Whoever wants to possess is actually possessed by what he possesses. He is no longer free, but a slave.
Just as for Adam being in the garden is linked to obedience to God, so for Israel being in the promised land is linked concretely to not taking possession of the gift. God has ordered not to possess and not to accumulate, but to thank for the gift and to share.
Obedience to His Word introduces one into rest (promised land), where one eats (lives), drinks (loves) and rejoices, because in satisfying primary needs one also satisfies the essential: the love of the Father and of one's brothers and sisters!
Possession is contrary to thankfulness, and is against God; accumulation is contrary to sharing and is against men. The rich man, who aims to have more, isolates himself more and more from others and cages himself in his solitude. Foolishness is consumed in the complacency of goods, making them one's own life and safety.
"Rest, eat, drink, enjoy": this is man's life program.
Goods, in God's plan, would serve for this!
But it is foolishness to believe that one can achieve it by following the path of having more.
Foolishness consists in the fact that death is not avoided by what the fear of death has suggested. Fear is, in fact, bad counselor, and it throws into the arms of what is feared.
The consciousness of death shows me my deepest being: my absolute solitude before Him, which can only be filled by Him, my rest, my food, my drink and my joy.