The Catholic Calendar for Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Ezekiel 28:1-10
Deuteronomy 33:26-28,30,35-36
Matthew 19:23-30

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

"it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God."

Today we have the oft-misinterpreted gospel of the rich man entering the kingdom of heaven....Very often we can feel a sense of guilt when we want more for ourselves and our family...when we aspire to material success. I think this is a negative aspect of conditioning we have carried with us from previous generations....Riches or wealth in itself is not bad or good...it is our relationship to wealth which determines how positive an impact it has in our lives...

Material wealth or success can be very distracting...it adds complexity ....suddenly we have more responsibility, more to manage...we plan more...we work on building an illusion of security for ourselves...the accumulation of wealth can build fear...we have more to lose...more to protect....we become less dependent on God's providence...growing more dependent on our sense of "control"...But when we recognise material wealth as a gift from God...not ours to own necessarily...but a resource available to us to function in the material world...it's control on us diminishes...and we gain a healthier perspective....

Jesus calls us to live in the NOW and to be ready to enter the kingdom of Heaven...that means being able to recognise the gifts we have in our lives yet being able to give up attachment to those gifts...so that we remain free and open to God's divine plan....

- Cliodhna Doyle

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posted by joachim at 5:01 AM