Memorial of Saint John de Brébeuf and Saint Isaac Jogues, priests and martyrs, and their companions, martyrs
Today's Scripture
In today's reading from St. Luke's Gospel, we encounter a man who petitions Jesus to help him in his financial strife with his brother. The man claims that his brother has wronged him by not sharing their inheritance. Taking this passage in its broader context, we see that Jesus has been steadily drawing larger and larger crowds to Him. He is trying to teach His disciples, but more and more people are also becoming interested in listening to Him. In some instances, like the case with this man, they think Jesus has come to solve their earthly problems, taking sides in their worldly disputes. In today's present passage, after Jesus explains how the Holy Spirit will help His disciples when they are called upon to verbally defend their actions and teachings, this man from the crowd interrupts Jesus with his request. Jesus' response appears somewhat dismissive, but what He does is use this as a teaching moment for the entire crowd. Prior to this, as crowds have been gathering, Jesus has been teaching His disciples. Clearly, from this man's interjection, not everyone in the crowd has understood what Jesus has been saying. Now, Jesus turns to the entire crowd to give them an important word of warning: "Take care to guard against all greed...one's life does not consist of possessions" (Luke 12:15).
Before turning back to teach His disciples in the rest of the chapter that goes beyond today's reading, Jesus addresses the crowd with a parable. In the parable Jesus highlights the futility of storing up earthly treasures, emphasizing His point with an allusion to Ecclesiastes 8:15, which reads, "Therefore I commend mirth, because there is nothing good for man under the sun except eating and drinking and mirth." For, without God all is vanity. The announcement of the rich man's imminent death in the parable shows the folly of his thought. The point of the parable is that when you die you take with you only your soul. Therefore, while you live this life, you need to worry less about the state of your house and earthly possessions and more about the state of your soul. Store up for yourselves treasures for heaven. As we read in the Office of Readings for today's Memorial: "Let me so live that you may grant me the gift of such a happy death." The happiness to which this quote refers is the happiness of offering up one's entire life to God, in this case, quite literally through death. We are all called upon to offer our entire lives to God. In such a way can we become wealthy in the things that truly matter in eternal life.
Today is the Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf, St. Isaac Jogues and their companions. These Christian martyrs were killed because of their ministry for Jesus in North America. Like our father Abraham, they had faith in God and obeyed Him. They lost their lives in very gruesome ways, but they were truly rich in the things that really matter. Through their intercession, and with them as our models for today, let us too strive to grow rich in the things that really matter, by spending more time gathering treasures for heaven than we do on earthly possessions which we cannot take with us beyond the grave. Prayer and serving others are two powerful ways of "getting rich" in heavenly goods. For those of us with busy lives, a good way to start might be to offer up our work for specific prayer intentions: "Lord I offer up my dishwashing for...." Maybe, before we begin a task, we can take 60 seconds to pray. These small steps can build up treasures that will transform our lives. When we see someone in need, perhaps we can lend a helping hand. We may not be able to help everyone in need that we encounter, but surely we can help some of them. Such prayers and such acts of loving service are worth more than gold.
Jeff Morrow