17 October 2022
Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr
Today’s Gospel reading (Luke 12:13–21) begins with a request addressed to Jesus which any sibling can relate to: “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” These words bring to mind many different occasions when either my sister or I complained to our mother about something that the other received, and we would want to frame it as a matter of justice that the other share what they had.
Jesus, of course, cuts right to the spiritual reality at the heart of this request: greed. As was so often the case in those sibling disagreements, what motivates this request from the person in the crowd is not a real sense of justice but a desire to possess and to find security in ownership. And so Jesus offers us his parable of the rich fool who builds barns for his harvest, not knowing that he will die that night.
The invitation for us today, then, is to examine our relationship to the things we possess, whether those are material goods, accomplishments, or even spiritual experiences and consolations. Are we, like the rich man in the parable, storing them up in a misguided attempt to find our security and happiness in what is passing? Or do we instead find our security in God alone? Let us pray for the ability to hold lightly all the gifts God has bestowed on us, desiring only his love and grace.