Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Luke 12: 13-21
August 03, 2025 | Sunday

Today’s Gospel

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,“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? Alright, I know what I shall do: I will pull down my barns and I will build bigger ones, to store all this grain, which is my wealth. Then I will 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 for himself and is not wealthy in the eyes of God.”

Today’s Reflection

Although Ecclesiastes belongs to the cluster of the so-called “Wisdom Literature,” it is replete with disillusionment, full of skepticism, and unsatisfied with insatiable questioning of the normative certainties of life. It has even put into question everything, including the afterlife. The Hellenistic influence of questioning the loci of happiness is apparent. That hard work is futile; no toil can even give us satisfaction. It is a critique of the common knowledge of understanding and belief in the assumption that a happy life could be found in wealth and distinction, which is considered a sign of God’s magnanimous blessings.

On the other hand, Paul’s letter to the Colossians is full of hope, a hope founded on the risen Christ who is now seated at the Father’s right hand. As we are baptized in Christ, we, too, share that dignity as sons and daughters of God. Since we have been “owned” by Christ, we should do away with everything contrary to our life being with Christ. Paul considers this an intimate “access” to the Father, and only through this do we address God as “Abba” Father, as the Son is intimate with His Father. This being said we are continuously transformed into Christ.

The tone and example of the Gospel reveal that the evangelist Luke comes from an affluent family and is described as having a knowledge of medicine. The parable of the “rich fool” exemplifies this and his condemnatory tone, if not his aversion to wealth or divulging his knowledge about wealth and its misuse and consequences. A preoccupation with unmanaged wealth has dire consequences.

The text from Ecclesiastes opines about the futility of grounding our happiness solely on wealth and forgetting God as its source. Here, Luke’s Jesus discloses an uncompromising focus on the primacy of God and is not distracted by unessential things. This does not mean that material things are to be totally condemned. Instead, they should not hinder us from loving our neighbor, including our enemies, but utilizing wealth to do good things and for the well-being of others.

/Vulnerasti, 2025