Word Wide Open: The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) - 7/31/22

 

First Reading (Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23)

A reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,

vanity of vanities!  All things are vanity!

Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill,

and yet to another who has not labored over it,

he must leave property. 

This also is vanity and a great misfortune. 

For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart

with which he has labored under the sun? 

All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation;

even at night his mind is not at rest. 

This also is vanity.

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? What is vanity and why is it a problem? What are things we let consume our lives that aren't God?

Second Reading (Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11)

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians.

Brothers and sisters:

If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,

where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. 

For you have died,

and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 

When Christ your life appears,

then you too will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:

immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,

and the greed that is idolatry. 

Stop lying to one another,

since you have taken off the old self with its practices

and have put on the new self,

which is being renewed, for knowledge,

in the image of its creator. 

Here there is not Greek and Jew,

circumcision and uncircumcision,

barbarian, Scythian, slave, free;

but Christ is all and in all.

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? What are things that need to be put to death in our lives?

Gospel (Luke 12:13-21)

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke.

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,

“Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” 

He replied to him,

“Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?” 

Then he said to the crowd,

“Take care to guard against all greed,

for though one may be rich,

one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Then he told them a parable. 

“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. 

He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,

for I do not have space to store my harvest?’

And he said, ‘This is what I shall do:

I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. 

There I shall store all my grain and other goods

and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you,

you have so many good things stored up for many years,

rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’

But God said to him,

‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;

and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’

Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves

but are not rich in what matters to God.”

 

The Gospel of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this Gospel reading? Why is it so easy to be obsessed with possessions? How do we become rich in what matters to God?