19-Oct-15

Gospel LK 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.”
Reflection:
"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."
This passage makes me uncomfortable. I think of the definition of the sin of greed.
Greed is "the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort."
I can truthfully say that I do not have a desire to possess wealth. But, nevertheless, I do own far too many clothes and objects in excess of what I require. When I look in my closets and my drawers, I have shirts, shoes, coats, and other clothing far beyond what I reasonably need. There are people in the world who own only one shirt, one pair of pants and have no shoes.
My Haitian friend who collects clothes to ship back to her country tells me there are many people in Haiti who wear a different shoe or sneaker on each foot because that is all they possess. Yet, as I sit and write this reflection, I am looking at eight pairs of shoes on my shoe tree, many of which I haven't worn in months.
So, what to do? If I give half my shoes away will I buy more and be in the same state of affairs again? I don't know. But, I do know that if I am a follower of Christ then I must change.
Tomorrow, the extra shoes, shirts and coats are going; they will be donated. I have bought my last shirt, and I will let my family know...."no more clothes" as gifts.
I will begin to live my life in such a way that when I see Christ face to face, he will not say to me, "You fool....."

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.....but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21