Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

"Death and the Rich Man"
by Frans II Francken (1581 - 1642)

 
Readings for Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary:[3]
 
Reading 1: Ephesians 2:1-10
 
Brothers and sisters:
You were dead in your transgressions and sins
in which you once lived following the age of this world,
following the ruler of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient.
All of us once lived among them in the desires of our flesh,
following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses,
and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest.
But God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
raised us up with him,
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;
it is not from works, so no one may boast.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Eph 2:1-10
 
In the first half of the second chapter of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, the evangelist describes how the faithful are reconciled to God in Christ. He begins in the opening verses describing how, before they were chosen in Christ, the faithful readers of his letter were dead in their sins. Their natural values followed the evil one (“following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient”). In this fallen state, the desires of the flesh drove them toward a life of “wrath” (anger – hatred) as it does even now to those who do not accept Christ’s law of love.
 
St. Paul continues, now showing how, through Christ’s sacrifice, God pours out his grace on his adopted sons and daughters, an unmerited gift from God. It is through grace that salvation is given as a free gift, something we cannot earn through our own actions (“it is not from works, so no one may boast”). He concludes reminding the reader that all are God’s “handiwork,” his creation in Christ Jesus, called to a life of good works.
 
CCC: Eph 2:3 2515; Eph 2:4-5 654; Eph 2:4 211, 1073; Eph 2:6 1003, 2796
-------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 100:1b-2, 3, 4ab, 4c-5
 
R. (3b) The Lord made us, we belong to him.

Sing joyfully to the LORD all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
R. The Lord made us, we belong to him.

Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.
R. The Lord made us, we belong to him.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise.
R. The Lord made us, we belong to him.

Give thanks to him; bless his name, for he is good:
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
R. The Lord made us, we belong to him.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4ab, 4c-5
 
Psalm 100 is a communal song of thanksgiving in which the psalmist invites the people to come to God with praise and thanksgiving for the wondrous things he has done. In this selection the psalmist gives thanks for God’s favor and his unending support in all good things. It affirms God’s saving grace given to his sons and daughters through all generations. The song recalls God the Creator whose love and fidelity knows no bounds.
 
-------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 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 the one who stores up treasure for himself
but is not rich in what matters to God.”
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk 12:13-21
 
The passage begins with Jesus refusing to provide rabbinical guidance to a person in the crowd. Such guidance is provided in Numbers 27:1-11 and Deuteronomy 21:15ff, but the Lord saw greed at the root of the request. He uses the parable (found only in Luke) of the rich landowner (fool in some translations) to emphasize the need to focus on the spiritual gifts that do not perish, not just on material goods. He tells the one who wishes to have Jesus arbitrate a dispute with that person’s brother to take care against greed.
 
The parable has elements of other stories used by Jesus in which the unpredictability of the end of life is emphasized. Speaking to the crowd, the Lord tells them to focus on those spiritual attributes without delay. St. Athanasius used these words: “A person who lives as if he were to die every day- given that our life is uncertain by definition- will not sin, for good fear extinguishes most of the disorder of our appetites; whereas he who thinks he has a long life ahead of him will easily let himself be dominated by pleasures (Adversus Antigonum).”  [4]

CCC: Lk 12:13-14 549
-------------------------------------------
Reflection:
 
When the Olympics are held the world is transfixed as athletes from around the world compete in a myriad of events.  As different as they all are, young and old, large and small, and men and women, they had one thing in common.  They all had worked hard at their craft, mentally and physically, to get to that level of competition. 
 
We wonder: how many of these elite athletes paused to consider how it was that they were able to achieve such prominence in their sport?  Did the young American girls who won their gold medals for gymnastics ever marvel at who gave them the physical and mental attributes that allowed them to perform as they did?  Did the South Korean archery team give thanks to God for their success?
 
We do not pose these questions to be critical of other people from different cultural backgrounds; rather, we see the Olympics as analogous to our own lives, the events as being like the challenges we face in work, school, or at home.  Like those athletes, many of us have trained for a profession or avocation.  We work hard at whatever we do.  Yet could we have accomplished anything if God in his infinite mercy had not given us the gifts of life, health, and ability?
 
And when we start the active parts of our lives, do we say: “I think I’ll start slowly in order to save my strength for when I am older?”  Do we procrastinate in our physical activities, vowing to strive for physical excellence when we grow old?  No, most of us worked very hard early in our lives to acquire the physical attributes and mental skills necessary to embark upon our chosen path.  We realize that the earlier we start and the harder we work, the more likely our potential will be fully realized.
 
Holy Scripture tells us that the same must be true of our spiritual pursuits.  We cannot store up our energy, hoping to make a sudden sprint for sainthood at the end of our days.  Christ uses the story of the wealthy landowner to emphasize this point.  He asks the crowd rhetorically: what good is saving God’s gifts to the end before using them if we do not know when that end will come?
 
In counterpoint or paradox, St. Paul tells the Ephesians in his letter that they cannot earn God’s grace; it is only through his mercy that grace is given.  We cannot store up that grace, it is given to us by God, a spiritual energy that infuses us and gives us strength.
 
Today we renew our pledge to build up our spiritual strength.  We pledge once more to be faithful to our spiritual discipline of prayer, meditation, and works of charity.  When we are called home to the Heavenly Father, may we take with us all the riches Christ gives us in a spirit worthy of him who created us all.
 
Pax

---

[1] The picture used is "Death and the Rich Man" by Frans II Francken (1581 - 1642).
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] The Navarre Bible, Gospels and Acts, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, p.437.