Daily Gospel Reflection
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October 23, 2023
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 the one who stores up treasure for himself
but is not rich in what matters to God.”
Here in Luke’s Gospel, we are shown a person in the crowd with selfish motives which becomes a teaching moment from Jesus for us.
In the preceding verses to this Gospel passage, Luke talks of Jesus’ warning against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and how they are trampling one another underfoot. Then today, he warns against greed using the Parable of the Rich Fool. Greed and selfishness can be so difficult to avoid despite our best intentions. Even the Apostles stumble from time to time with pride.
I can think of too many examples of my own foolish selfishness, pride and greed. Of course, I do not set out to be unreasonable or selfish! But God has a way of showing me, often in funny and sometimes in harsh ways, how wasteful my greed turns out to be. These moments can be painfully apparent upon reflection: why did I blindly accumulate too much of a good thing? Why do I worry so much about overachieving? Isn’t it wonderfully enough to be rich in what matters to God?
Having recently returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, I saw up close the simplicity of the region where Jesus performed his teaching. The land provided much of what the people needed, but human nature toward greed and pride distracted the people.
The person in the crowd from today’s Gospel did not humbly state his petition; he demanded Jesus to tell the brother to share the inheritance—a blatant example for us to choose the less selfish approach. May we open our hearts to trust God most deeply and actively seek to shed any hypocrisy, selfishness and greed that may exist in our lives.
Prayer
Father, creator of all, you are the center of all life. Everything in this world points to you and leads us to you. Today we ask you for the grace to keep you at the center of our lives, to use you as the reference point of all our thoughts, words, and actions. Help us to get ourselves out of the center of attention, and put you there. In serving you, we hope to give our best selves to all whom we encounter this day. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. John of Capistrano, nicknamed the “soldier saint,” helped liberate Belgrade from a military siege at the age of seventy.
John was born in Capistrano, Italy, in 1385, and studied law. After practicing as a lawyer in the courts of Naples, he was appointed the governor of Perugia. During a war with a neighboring city, he was imprisoned. During his imprisonment, John began to study theology, and when he was released in 1416, he forswore his secular profession and entered a Franciscan community at Perugia.
John studied with St. James of the March and St. Bernardine of Siena, and, through their guidance and his theological training, grew into a brilliant preacher. John's reputation as a charismatic and powerful preacher grew. John traveled throughout Europe and Russia preaching to large crowds and helping to establish Franciscan communities.
When John was well into old age, at the age of seventy, the Holy Roman Empire was facing the daunting military power of the Ottoman Empire. Both Rome and Vienna were under threat of siege. Thus, John was commissioned by Pope Callixtus III to incite in his enthralled audiences' interest in a crusade to oppose the invasion. Extending his leadership beyond simply the pastoral sphere, John also served as a leader in the defense of Belgrade and marched at the head of 70,000 soldiers who won a decisive victory in Belgrade in 1456. John died only three months later.
St. John of Capistrano has a unique presence in the New World as well. In 1776, Spanish Franciscan missionaries built a mission in southern California and named it San Juan Capistrano. The stone church they erected is the oldest building still in use in California. It is the only surviving structure that has documented proof that St. Junipero Serra celebrated Mass here. For a long time, that church was the largest building in Southern California. One unusual tradition surrounding the mission church is a celebration involving the American cliff swallow. The church was located next to two rivers, providing an abundance of insects for the birds. Each year, the swallows journey six thousand miles to Argentina for the winter and travel back in the spring. Their return is welcomed with a famous celebration, Fiesta de las Golondrinas, which takes place on March 19, the feast of St. Joseph.
St. John of Capistrano is the patron saint of military chaplains and of those who work as judges and in various legal professions. Some of his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.
St. John of Capistrano, patron saint of military chaplains and judges—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. John of Capistrano is used with permission from Catholic Online. Last accessed October 4, 2024.