August 4, 2013

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Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 
Lectionary: 114

Reading 1ECC 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.

Everything on this earth is vanity.  The only good is God.  As Scripture says elsewhere:

Philippians 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Responsorial PsalmPS 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 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.

Yesterday, we spoke of temporary tents, the Feast of Tabernacles.  Today we are focusing on our end.  Our life is temporary.  Our life will end.  And we usually have no warning when it does.  So, let us all be prepared to meet our Maker, right now.

Reading 2COL 3:1-5, 9-11

Brothers and sisters:
If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,

If you were raised with Christ, that is, if you have been justified in Baptism and therefore washed of all your sins, then we must turn to God and seek His righteousness.

where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.

Seek to be holy in order that you may dwell with God for eternity.

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.

Because we have died to our old life and been born again to a life with Christ.

Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,
and the greed that is idolatry.

Put away sin and seek righteousness by keeping the Commandments and adding to your faith all the virtues.

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.

There is nothing important anymore, but Christ and His righteousness.

GospelLK 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.”

A person wanted Jesus to use His authority to take some of his brother's inheritance.  But Jesus refused.

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.”

Thus, always be thankful for and generous with the good things which God has given you.  Because you will be judged for what you have down and what you have not done with the gifts God has given you (Matt 25:14-30).