MONDAY OF THE 29th WEEK IN ORDINARY OF THE YEAR (A)
MYSTERY OF THE DAY: Joyful
CELEBRATION OF THE DAY: Ferial
TABLE OF THE WORD: Romans 4:20-25; Luke 12:13-21
THEME: Contentment and Charity.
THE WORD
"Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Luke 12:15)
INSPIRATION
God out of His unfathomable love and mercy blessed humanity with abundance of wealth through natural, mineral and other resources to be used for growth and development of human race. The essence of this blessing is to satisfy man's longing.
Sadly, the case is the reverse especially here in our country Nigeria where bribery and corruption has taken centre stage and unequal shared of God's given resources becomes the order of the day, whereby the poor is getting poorer and the rich richer.
It is on account of this that, Christ spoke to us today as related by Evangelist Luke;
Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Luke 12:15).
Our Lord ended this teaching with the parable of a rich fool who had all at his beck and call without thinking of those at the peripheries of his community. He felt all that he was blessed with was the product of his sweat (cf. Luke 12:13-21), for he suddenly forgets that all that we have, the status we occupy are of God's.
Recalling the words of Job when he says: “He swallows riches, But will vomit them up; God will expel them from his belly." (Job 20:15). Here God reminded us of His power to build and destroy, while calling to mind the need to be generous for if the rich fool in today's gospel was charitable enough God wouldn't have asked for his soul as charity covers multitude of sins.
Beloved in Christ, God is ever loving and merciful in His essence, He blesses us according to our need not according to our desires. Seeking to satisfy our excessive desires or longings tentamounts to covetousness or greediness. We are being asked to watch our desires for the amount of wealth we acquire is not the yardstick for our happiness. As St. Paul's epistle to the Philippians Church says:
"And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19). For indeed,
"The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it." (Proverbs 10:22). "And God will generously provide all you need." (2 Corinthians 9:8) Peace be with you!
PRAYER
Eternal Word, the Son of the invisible God. Accept we pray the homage of our lips and grant us the grace to appreciate every bit of God's love upon us through charity and contentment. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
+ May the Lord in His infinite mercy bless and keep us, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
(c) The ARCHIVE 23102023.
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