Be Greedy To Bless Others

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 August 2010


We are God’s people, the sheep of his flock: come, let us worship him, alleluia.

First reading Ecclesiastes 1:2,2:21-23
Vanity of vanities, Qoheleth says. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity!
For so it is that a man who has laboured wisely, skilfully and successfully must leave what is his own to someone who has not toiled for it at all. This, too, is vanity and great injustice; for what does he gain for all the toil and strain that he has undergone under the sun? What of all his laborious days, his cares of office, his restless nights? This, too, is vanity.
Psalm or canticle: Psalm 89:3-6,12-14,17

Second reading Colossians 3:1-5,9-11
Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.
That is why you must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life: fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god; and never tell each other lies. You have stripped off your old behaviour with your old self, and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its creator; and in that image there is no room for distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised or the uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free man. There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.

Gospel Luke 12:13-21
A man in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.’ ‘My friend,’ he replied, ‘who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?’ Then he said to them, ‘Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.’
Then he told them a parable: ‘There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” But God said to him, “Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?.” So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.’

Reflection
By Anabelle Payod-Balla

I remember one of the stories of Bo Sanchez. There was a time when he felt so helpless and frustrated when he was not able to help financially those people who are in great need. He wanted to help and bless more people and he realized that he can’t do this well if he has no means, no money. And so, he was driven to become a millionaire in order to help more. And he did become a millionaire and is now funding several charities and housing for homeless. He made use of money in order to bless others, therefore storing riches in heaven.

The readings for this Sunday talk about freeing ourselves from the chain of earthly things and to stop piling riches for ourselves but instead, focus on storing riches in heaven. Some of us may have taken this message literally. Those who wanted to remain poor as they see money as evil, as an earthly thing. But some of us, like Brother Bo Sanchez, went beyond the words and found a way to use these earthly things in order to store more riches in heaven. The key is how we use and share what we have, our riches, in order to improve life and lead others to God.

One time, one of my mentors and I were sharing about how we are helping our extended family. And she said something that really struck me and inspired me to continue sharing what we have with others. She said, "It is better to be in the position of being the 'giver' than being the 'receiver'." I fully agreed with the statement. There is so much joy in giving than receiving. Plus, giving with a cheerful heart receives heavenly rewards and these heavenly rewards are the riches we are storing in heaven.

Father, we thank You for everything that we have today. Help us to use them for Your glory. And please continue to shower us with Your abundant blessings so we may be able to help more. Amen.

Go and be rich so you can help those in need while saving souls in the process!

Next on God-speak
Caught In The Act Of Faith