How providential...
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We celebrate the feast of this early Bishop-martyr as the indictment of a sitting Catholic Bishop is front page news; and then we hear the Gospel warning against greed in all of its forms as it is read at Mass in Catholic churches today, when headlines across the globe focus upon the economy and protests against greed; while some blame the poor for not being rich, and scorn the under-employed for not having a better job.
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The parable in today's Gospel tells of the man who had such a bountiful harvest that he could retire on the income it provided. He relied upon his savings and investments, yet a crash came and he lost everything... God was angered that he relied on his wealth rather than Him and said, "'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." - Luke 12: 13-21
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"I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the limits of the earth. He who died in our place is the object of my quest." - St. Ignatius of Antioch
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Icon: Ignatius of Antioch. "I am God's wheat and shall be ground by the teeth of wild beasts so that I may become Christ's pure bread."
The original manly man.
ReplyDeleteI found this at The Anchoress:
ReplyDelete"Pope Benedict XVI pointed it out during his September pastoral visit to Germany (as secularized a Western country as now exists). The lesson of history, he said, is that secularization aimed at reducing the worldly power of the Church often has the unintended consequence (unintended by the secularists anyway) of purifying the Church for its spiritual mission."