Gospel Reflections for July 31 2016
Wealth is the power to do something good
Today’s Gospel is a warning against wealth. The scriptures often warn us against several famous temptations. They are wealth, power, honor, and pleasure. Well, I hope you receive all of them!
To be clear, these temptations are neither good nor bad of themselves. They become good or bad depending on how we use them. Each of them can provide the possibility of accomplishing something good for the world …or the possibility of using them for selfish ends.
I wish for you the blessings of wealth. With money you can accomplish a number of good things. You can provide for loved ones, and yourself, of course. However, you can also make good things happen elsewhere. You can make a local charity like Catholic Charities more effective. You can help your parish with a new program or better maintain its facilities. You can make the lives of the poor less stressful.
I wish for you the blessings of power. It can be a wonderful thing that you are in charge of others. Having official authority over others is an awesome gift and wonderful opportunity. You have the ability to make good things happen, say, in a company, in a government, in the military, or especially as a parent in a family.
I wish you for you the blessings of honor. Having a good reputation and the esteem of others can help make good things happen. People will want to follow your example and do what you do. I pray that your example resembles the life of Our Lord, or any of the saints.
Finally, I wish for you the blessings of pleasure! I hope that you will find joy and satisfaction in the natural life God has given you, and the natural world in which you have been placed. I hope you are able to see the beauty in nature and enjoy moments of rest and relaxation, or engage in sports …and recreation, in the original sense of that term, to “re-create yourself anew both apart from your work, and even in your work.
For all these good reasons I hope you will receive wealth, power, honor, and pleasure!
I am sure you will use them well. The Gospel warns us to not see them as ends themselves …accruing wealth just to gain wealth or seeking honor just to gain a big name. Whatever we have we want to use for some good end, to build the Kingdom of God.
Every week, we have a reminder in the words of the consecration at Mass when Jesus says, “This is my Body and Blood, given for you” Jesus takes His body and blood, His entire self, everything that He is, and offers it to the Father for our lasting happiness. He knows just what to do with what He has …and invites us to do the same.
God Bless!
Fr. Dave
Thank you Father Dave. We wish you the many blessings also. Our adopted “son”, Father Bob McCann of the Oakland Archdiocese was with us on our 60th wedding anniversary. I forwarded your last reading to him. Your reflections are always so meaningful to us.
God bless.
Thank you! I am honored that you share these reflections with others, especially other priests.
This beautiful reflection echoes the lives of your parents, and serves as a beautiful tribute to them both.
We have also an outstanding example of such a life still among us but currently undergoing a serious health struggle. To those of us who have enjoyed the enrichment Roland Chabot’s example of generosity (and of his late wife Janet) we see in him the embodiment of a loving father, not only modeling Christian virtues in his family but sharing them in word and generous works for so many over 30 years of Bible Study. Whether hiking the local mountains, climbing Half Dome, or in their many travels over the world, they never failed to do so without praising the Creator of all.. We pray that. with God’s help, he will conquer this new challenge. We are in great need of more “Blessed Among Us”.
Please give my greetings and assurance of my prayers to him. What a great example of a Christian life he has lived.
Dear Father Dave,
Your words make life more precious!!We have such an incredible faith of love!!! Beautiful Faith, Beautiful Life, Beautiful You!!! Your lovely words of Wealth, Honor Power, Pleasure do do good and help others is the beauty of living a faith filled giving life of love!!!l Loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee our God,, Love our Jesus,, Love our Blessed Mother and loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee you!!!
Loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, Franca and Dick
Dick and i would love to be in the same sweet, beautiful corner of Heaven with you,some precious day with our beautiful family, and, loving Friends!!!!!! enjoying the precious love of our God, our Jesus our Blessed Mother and all!!!
Thank you!
Thank you for the four blessings. I know that God listens to you, and I’ll try to make best good use of the blessings. I also know that it works the other way–when we receive less than we would like of money or power or respect or pleasure, that in itself can be a blessing. We all know how difficult it is to be a good person when you are showered with money. Being a little deprived is a good education in how to best use what you have.
Yes, I think you are right. Having less can teach wisdom about what to do when we have a lot.
Thank you Father Dave for the positive and hopeful message in your homily. I seeded it to my children
I am honored that you have sent it to your children. I hope they find it helpful.
Thank you, Father Dave … well said. I also appreciated the comments made by others.
I am glad when people take the time to comment. Their insights only add to our wisdom.
Thank you for the many blessings. I appreciate them.
You are very welcome!
I am a little late in sending this. I am kinda glad I am. In Mass today I was given another thought. I went to an Estate sale in Thousand Oaks a couple of years back., That sale has always been on my mind. Going into the house I was astonished. There was little room to move. There was a small isle in between all the stuff. These people had traveled extensively and brought all the ‘things’ with them. I fail to understand where they put it all.
When I hear today’s Gospel I am reminded of that sale and think that they had all that and when they died it all went to an estate sale, their family members didn’t want it either.
I don’t want to seem like I am judging these people because I know I need to not collect things (hard not to) and need to get rid of things I really do not need. I know for sure I can’t take it with me and know what is really important and that things are not as important as my relationship with our Lord.
I really love these reflections as I do with the Torah readings each week. It really opens up the Mass more to me and when the Homily comes I love to compare what the Priest gives versus how I got it. There is so much in this reading. I love the Mass and when I came back to the Church I studied it as Fr. Dave Newell started me out on some books that got me started. If more would do this they would never leave. Now with these reflections, it has even made it more alive as I really feel more part of it.
Thanks a million (not dollars, of course).
You are welcome! I am glad you like these articles.
Thank you so much Father Dave for giving us more knowledge about the parable. It helps me a lot 🙂
I am glad you find them helpful. I certainly enjoy writing them!