In today’s Gospel from St. Luke, Jesus tells the parable of the rich man whose land produced so much he had no space to store his harvest. So he built larger barns to store all his grain and other goods. God’s response to the man was, “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong? Thus will be be for all who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”
The basic message is simple. Our security lies in God, not in the things of this world. We can store up our goods all they want but not only can we lose them at any time, but they do nothing for us in terms of what really matters. There is only one thing we need and that is God. The only thing we have that we cannot lose. The only thing we have that we can bring with us always.
But it is not just sitting back in my easy chair confident that all I need is God. We are in this world, even if not of this world, and have a task while we are here. To be God’s love in the world. To act in compassion and love to others. As the Letter to the Corinthians says in the second Mass reading for today, having been raised with Christ, we are to take off the “old self” with its practices and “put on the new self.” That is what makes us “rich in what matters to God.”
Creo en Dios! 