This Sunday's readings tell us that those who accumulate wealth and material goods are in danger of putting all their focus and energy into supplying what they have and accumulating more. Those who devote most of their lives and concentrate on storing wealth and material goods are real fools, because they can miss out on the best of life. These supreme cravings lead them to renounce and miss out on many important things in life that neither money nor material can replace them, such as human relationships, celebrations with family and friendships and above all their relationship with God and the salvation of their soul.  

Greed is one of the temptations that can dominate us to the point that the more we have the more we want. A person full of greed is one who always seeks to hoard and enrich himself, is selfish,  thinks only of himself without caring about the need of others, the first reading warns us of this false way of living, “vanity of vanities”, those who use all their energy hoarding things that remain when one dies,  and they have no trust in God the Loving and Merciful Father and in Jesus our savior and redeemer.

Jesus in the parable warns us of the danger we all run by putting all our physical and mental effort into the material goods.    Jesus’ teaching is that true wealth is only in God and his kingdom.  He also tells us that we only have to put our trust in God not in all the material possessions that we have accumulated throughout our lives.  Our priority is to seek the kingdom of God.

Let us follow St. Paul’s counsel to live a new life today clothed in Christ, who, being rich, became poor to become like us.  As we pray in the liturgy of the hours, I invite you to also ask God the Father and protector who without nothing is sacred, nor does anything have value,  to guide us to eternal life helping us to use intelligently all the material blessings received from his hands and to put our hope only in him.  

By Deacon Guillermo Quant