St. Isaac Jogues & John de Brebeuf, priest 

& martyr & Companions, martyrs 

*** 1st Reading ***

Ephesians 2:1-10

You were dead through the faults and sins.

 Once you lived through them according to this world and followed the Sovereign Ruler who reigns between heaven and earth and who goes on working in those who resist the faith.

All of us belonged to them at one time and we followed human greed; we obeyed the urges of our human nature and consented to its desires. By ourselves, we went straight to the judgment like the rest of humankind.

But God, who is rich in mercy, revealed his immense love. As we were dead through our sins, he gave us life with Christ. By grace you have been saved! And he raised us to life with Christ, gi­ving us a place with him in heaven.

 In showing us such kindness in Christ Jesus, God willed to reveal and unfold in the coming ages the extraordinary riches of his grace. By the grace of God you have been saved through faith. This has not come from you: it is God’s gift. 

This was not the result of your works, so you are not to feel proud. What we are is God’s work. He has created us in Christ Jesus for the good works he has prepared that we should devote ourselves to them.

 

Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4ab 4c-5

The Lord make us, we belong to him.

 

**** 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.”

 

Gospel Reflection

As the image of Caesar on the Roman coin indicated that the coin belonged to Caesar, so we who bear the divine image belong to God! but because we are in the world we are easily tempted with the desire to accumulate the “coin of Caesar.”

Greed is a dangerous vice. The interlocutor and the rich fool in today’s parble illustrate the addictive grip of greed. Thus Jesus takes the occasion to teach his disciples about the danger of being enamored with the “coin of Caesar”.

When worldly treasures are more important than relationships, families can end up mortal enemies as they quarrel over inheritance. In the parable of the rich fool, Jesus points out that life is not about accumulation of worldly treasures but rather about becoming “wealthy in the eyes of God.”  I remember a very active layman who passed away some time ago.

By worldly standards he had nothing to leave behind his grieving family. But his wake and the funeral that followed revealed how he truly was “wealthy before God” as people came to pray for his and relate how they remembered his many acts of kindness and unselfish service for others. His “estate” was not money or property but memories of kindness and service.