Prayer for the Day
Father, Help me to become rich in what matters to YOU; Help me
discern how best to use my “wealth” for Your greater glory; I ask You this in
Jesus’ name. Amen.
Reflection
Life does not consist of possessions, but possessions are a
necessary part of life. Things do not matter to God, but what we do with things
does matter. Some of us have great
wealth and good health; others have poverty and physical afflictions. All of
us, though, are called to use what we have been given to bring us closer to
God. All of us are called to discern whether we are using the things we have
been given as God intended for us to use them. All of us are called to be
generous with our gifts, whatever those gifts might be. All of us are called to
be detached from our possessions, and not to hold them greedily.
We are greedy if we are focused on keeping what we have for
us, instead of using what we have been given for the greater glory of God. We
are greedy if we dwell on our misfortunes, ill health or other seemingly
negative gifts with regret and bitterness, instead of using these possessions
as paths to find greater comfort in God’s arms. If we selfishly keep what we have, and do not
find the way to respond generously to what we have been given, we are not rich
in what matters to God.
We all are called to know and love and follow Jesus. We are
called to read about His life here on earth. We are called to listen to His
teaching and to obey His commands. In doing this we become rich in what matters
to God.
But we have to do it continually during our lives here on
earth. We can't put off following Jesus until some future date because we don't
know how much longer our life might last. We have time now to begin to grow
rich in what matters to God. We might not have time later on.
As we look around us in today's world, we can see people who
are like the rich man Jesus tells about in Luke 12:13-21. They accumulate great
wealth in order to live a worldly life of ease and comfort and pleasure. They
are selfish and think only of themselves and their own happiness. They give no
indication of being concerned about life after death. Unless they change their
ways, they risk the same fate that befell the rich man in Jesus’ parable. Today I pray that the parable in this gospel
reading may help all of us who read it to learn the lesson it teaches. May we all become rich in what matters to God.
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