REFLECTIONS TODAY Today’s Gospel is of two parts: Jesus’ warning against the danger of greed, and the parable of the Rich Fool. The parable serves as an explanation of Jesus’ warning against all greed (pasēs pleoneksias). The warning is against all forms of greed because greed may come in subtle ways. For example, it may be argued that the wealth of a rich man might have come from his hard work, thus blurring the simple truth that a person’s life does not consist of material possessions. Let us focus our attention on the parable. There, the rich man has been blessed with a bountiful harvest. This particular blessing from the Lord could have made the heart of this man bigger so that he could also be a blessing to other people. However, the man, subtly enticed by greed, prefers a bigger barn for his self-preservation to a bigger heart for reaching out. Are we aware that greed may come subtly? Do we prefer a bigger storage for material things or a bigger heart that we may grow spiritually? Do we share our blessings? 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 the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.”