In a world of expanding barns, we are invited to become rich toward God

“In a world of expanding barns, we are invited to become rich toward God.”

Today is Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time. The Church also offers the optional memorial of Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, priests, and their companions, the North American Martyrs, or of Saint Paul of the Cross, priest and founder of the Passionists. The readings remain those of the weekday, yet the lives of these saints illuminate the Gospel’s call to radical detachment.

The First Reading from Ephesians 2:1-10 proclaims the sheer gift of grace. Once we were dead in our transgressions, following the ruler of the power of the air and the desires of the flesh. But God, rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ, raised us up, and seated us with him in the heavenly places. Salvation is by grace through faith, not by works, lest anyone boast. We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works prepared beforehand. The Responsorial Psalm answers with joyful recognition: “We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” We belong to God, not to our possessions.

The Gospel (Luke 12:13-21) places this grace in sharp relief. A man asks Jesus to settle an inheritance dispute. Jesus refuses to act as judge of earthly claims and instead warns the crowd: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” He then tells the parable of the rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. The man monologues about tearing down barns and building larger ones, then says to his soul, “You have many good things stored up for many years; rest, eat, drink, be merry.” God replies, “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” So it is with one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.

Saint Augustine, preaching on this very text, observed that the man thought himself wise in his planning, yet God called him a fool; those who hear the Gospel and do not act likewise remain fools in God’s eyes. Saint John Chrysostom, reflecting on related passages, taught that true storehouses are not walls of stone but “the mouths of the poor.” The rich man’s error was not the harvest itself—God gives the increase—but the closed monologue that excluded gratitude, neighbor, and eternity. The Alleluia verse from Matthew 5:3 (“Blessed are the poor in spirit”) confirms the path: poverty of heart opens the way to the Kingdom.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2536) teaches that the tenth commandment forbids greed and the desire to amass earthly goods without limit; avarice arises from a passion for riches and their power. Gaudium et Spes (69) recalls the universal destination of goods: the right to private property is not absolute but must serve the common good. Pope Francis, in Evangelii Gaudium and in his catecheses on avarice, has warned that greed attempts to exorcise the fear of death by accumulating securities that crumble; the parable of the foolish man shows a life calculated for many years yet interrupted that very night. In the Philippine context, the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP II) called the Church to become a Church of the Poor, challenging structures that favor accumulation over solidarity and urging the faithful to place resources at the service of human dignity.

Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues left the relative security of Europe, endured hardship, and ultimately gave their lives in missionary witness; they stored nothing for themselves and became rich toward God through total self-gift. Saint Paul of the Cross embraced radical poverty and penance so that the Passion of Christ might be proclaimed; his life shows that austerity can free the heart for deeper charity.

Three practical responses flow from these texts for Catholics today.

First, practice a daily examination of conscience focused on gratitude and simplicity. Before sleep, name three gifts received that day that money cannot buy, and ask whether any planned purchase is driven more by fear or status than by genuine need.

Second, make one concrete act of sharing each week that costs something real—whether time, money, or possessions. Support a parish feeding program, contribute to a community livelihood project, or share a skill with someone who cannot afford professional help. As Chrysostom taught, the poor become our true barns.

Third, reorder time so that relationships and prayer take precedence over accumulation. Schedule family meals or neighborhood visits that cannot be postponed for work or shopping, and protect a daily period of Scripture and silence in which Christ, not our balance sheet, speaks to the soul.

These steps do not reject legitimate prosperity; they place it under the lordship of the One who made us alive by grace and created us for good works.

Lord Jesus, you who refused to be arbitrator of earthly inheritances, free our hearts from the monologue of greed. Teach us to receive every gift as coming from your hand and to place it at the service of others, so that when our life is required of us we may be found rich toward you. Through the intercession of the North American Martyrs and Saint Paul of the Cross, make us generous stewards of the grace that has already made us alive. Amen.

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