GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Sunday - July 31, 2022

Sunday - July 31, 2022

Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting.

~~Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

July 31, 2022

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Lectionary: 114

 

Reading I     

                                                                                    Ecc 1:2; 2:21-23

 

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.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  69:5, 8-10, 14

 

Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17

 

You turn man back to dust,

saying, “Return, O children of men.”

For a thousand years in your sight

 are as yesterday, now that it is past,

 or as a watch of the night.

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

You make an end of them in their sleep;

 the next morning they are like the changing grass,

Which at dawn springs up anew,

but by evening wilts and fades.

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Teach us to number our days aright,

 that we may gain wisdom of heart.

Return, O LORD! How long?

 Have pity on your servants!

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,

 that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.

And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;

 prosper the work of our hands for us!

 Prosper the work of our hands!

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

 

 

Reading II    

                                                                                    Col 3:1-5, 9-11

 

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.

 

 

Alleluia                                              Phil 2 Mt 5:3

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

R. Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                           Lk 12:13-21

 

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.”

 

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THE WEALTH OF GOD'S GENEROSITY 

When we understand God's generosity, we realize how wealthy we truly are. Even if we have little money in the bank, our lives are rich in God -- feeling protected and cared for by God, giving us an abundance of peace that gets us through trials and battles with wisdom and endurance.

 

God's generosity also leads to material goods. Every material blessing we have comes from God. He delivers it to us through the talents and skills that he has given to us. Whatever we earn through our own efforts comes originally from God's efforts. God is the source of everything that's good in our lives.

 

However, there's always a purpose that's bigger than us. Everything from God is meant to bless others, too. We are channels of God's generosity.

 

Whatever we have that we refuse to share becomes the cause of sin. We succumb to selfishness, which is akin to greed. The problem with greed is that it hurts others by denying them what God wants to share with them.

 

What makes us vulnerable to this sin? Self-reliance. It comes from thinking that we can rely solely on ourselves and on our own resources instead of partnering with God in generosity. Even when we recognize that God has been generous with us, self-reliance says that we are responsible for preventing the poverty of giving it away to others.

 

When we protect our lives by storing up our goods, others suffer. In this Sunday's Gospel reading, Jesus addresses both greed and self-reliance, because they are completely contrary to the personality of God.

 

Generosity grows when we understand that God is the provider of everything good and that he will continue to provide for us even when we give away what he gives to us -- especially when we give away what he gives to us. Think about what you have in abundance (be it money, or joy, or wisdom, or lessons learned from experience, or ___ ). Now look around. How might you be the answer to someone else's' prayers?

 

Whatever we hope to have already belongs to God and is meant to be shared with others. This is the primary economic principle of the kingdom of God. The Body of Christ thrives only when there's a continual exchange of goods. We call this the communion of saints.

 

Today's Prayer 

Deliver me, Lord, from any attachments to the things that stop me from enjoying the freedom You obtained for me with Your passion, death and resurrection. Amen.

 

God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”