GOSPEL MEDITATION – ENCOURAGE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE

July 30, 2022

July 31, 2022 ~ 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

GELessing 19i6 4c

What makes us feel secure? Many people look to tangible forms of security that will safeguard their livelihood and prepare for their future. We tend to associate security with things: the accumulation of goods and possessions, retirement funds, savings accounts, and substantial incomes. While acquiring these promises a life with less anxiety and worry, we actually find ourselves more preoccupied and consumed with their growth and preservation. We worry more! We can easily become quasi-hoarders, consumed with obtaining more tangible crutches. Our minds and hearts are always restless, and we never seem to be at peace.

Why do we so easily give our self-worth, value, and sense of security over to things? God certainly does not deny us the pursuit of a productive and enjoyable life but where do we draw the line? A sense of well-being and happiness can easily get deferred to sometime “in the future” while we continue to wrestle with the toils of today. There is no guarantee that there will be an earthly tomorrow and all of the frenzy we bring to securing our state in life will be for naught. When we are called from this world, will we even know where to begin to look for the tranquility and repose our souls so desperately need?

We cannot be hoarders, pursuers of vanity, or greedy. They just don’t work as they are too dependent on things that can fall apart. Rather than always feeling the need for more, we need to learn how to be grateful for what we have. By learning to look inward we can learn how to live lives of faithful service to others. “Happiness can only be achieved by looking inward and learning to enjoy whatever life has, and this requires transforming greed into gratitude (St. John Chrysostom).” We all need to be good stewards of what has been entrusted to our care. Grateful hearts recognize the true source of what we have and realize that our true treasure lies not in what matters to us but to God. ©LPi

MEDITACIÓN EVANGÉLICO – ALENTAR ENTENDIMIENTO MÁS PROFUNDO DE LA ESCRITURA (Gospel Meditation)

31 de julio de 2022 ~ 18º Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario

“El hombre ha sido creado para alabar, hacer reverencia y servir a Dios nuestro Señor” (San Ignacio de Loyola, fundador de los Jesuitas, cuya fiesta se celebra el 31 de julio).  Alabar y servir a Dios es la fuente de la felicidad en la vida del ser humano, y cuando uno descubre esto en su experiencia de vida, es que descubre la felicidad. La primera lectura nos advierte de los penares de la vida y de lo que pasa al acumular riquezas y poner el corazón en ello. “Después de haber trabajado con inteligencia, sabiduría y habilidad, uno tiene que dejárselo todo a otro que nada ha hecho” (Eclesiastés 2,21). 

Cuando estamos contentos porque nos va bien en la vida, por ejemplo: éxito en el trabajo, en el estudio, economía estable, una familia feliz y mucho más, es que nos pasa como el hombre rico del Evangelio, del que nos habla Jesús en su parábola. Está persona no encontraba lugar para su cosecha. Y claro, turbado por la codicia, no pensaba que Dios es el dueño de la vida.  El Papa Francisco, en otras palabras, explica lo tercos que somos a veces y como Dios nos espera: “Dios es fiel en su amor, y hasta obstinado. Siempre nos espera con esperanza, incluso cuando nos encerramos en nuestras tristezas, rumiando continuamente los males sufridos y el pasado… Dios, sin embargo, es obstinadamente esperanzado: siempre cree que podemos levantarnos y no se resigna a vernos apagados y sin alegría”. ¡Señor, dame generosidad para compartir lo que tengo! ©LPi