Our Lady Of The Way Primary School

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Address: 19 Green Ave, Kingsbury Vic 3083

Phone: (03) 9460 6684



GOSPEL 31 JULY 2022

First Reading, A reading from the book of Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23

What do people gain by all their work?.

Vanity of vanities, the Preacher 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 is laborious days, his cares of office, his restless nights? This, too, is vanity.

This is the word of the Lord

Second Reading, A Reading from the letter of St Paul to the Colossians Col 3:1-5,9-11

Seek the things that are above, where Christ is.

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 whorshipping 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 knowlede 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 barbarian and Scythian, slave and free man. There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.

This is the word of the Lord

Gospel: A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke Lk 12:13-21

To whom will all this wealth of yours go?.

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 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 thtings 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.'

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Reflection

18TH Sunday In Ordinary Time

Greed is excessive desire to a mass more than what one needs or deserves. Jesus warns us to avoid greed in all its forms because those who are obsessed with amassing things tend to forget God who is the source of happiness and fail to serve the poor which is a means to reach God. The parable of the rich fool focuses its attention on how wealth can induce a person to forget God and to make wealth the god of one’s life. The bumper crop is a sign of God’s blessing and not human merit. The spontaneous response of the landlord should have been one of gratefulness and praise; but this rich fool, instead of recognizing the role of God, considers the harvest his merit. The rich harvest makes him blind to the realities of life and deaf to the pleas of the poor. Instead of responding to God’s generosity with generosity, he becomes selfish. He limits life to food, drink and enjoyments. Giving undue attention to self, he closes his eyes against the needy. In fact, the rich man had greater responsibilities towards them because “everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required” (Lk 12, 48). Hence, Jesus today invites us to be grateful for all the rich ‘harvests’ in our lives, to have a realistic vision of life, and to recognise and fulfil our duties, especially our duties towards the less privileged and the marginalised in the society.

 
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