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Working with the Word
18th Sunday of Ordinary Time C
August 4, 2013


Focusing the Gospel

Key words and phrases: guard against all greed, what matters to God

To the point: The rich man in the parable judges he has stored up enough possessions to guarantee a good life without worries—so he thinks. Any reliance on wealth and possessions, however, is pure folly—both worldly possessions and this life are fleeting. What truly matters is the inheritance that only God can give: the fullness of eternal life. What “matters to God” is spending our life dispossessing ourselves of anything which hinders us from growing into the fullness of life.

Connecting the Gospel...

...to the first reading: The First Reading describes in greater detail the misfortune which befalls the rich man in the Gospel parable. According to Qoheleth, laboring for wealth and possessions is not only foolish but results in sorrow, grief, and anxiety.
...to experience: We naturally and responsibly store up wealth to take care of our future. There is nothing wrong with this kind of planning. The issue of the Gospel is that we must look beyond the wealth, guard against sheer greed, and keep our eye turned toward what “matters to God.”

Copyright © 2013 by The Order of St. Benedict, Inc., Collegeville, Minnesota.
All rights reserved.
Used by permission from Liturgical Press, St. John’s Abbey, P.O. Box 7500 Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7500

Living Liturgy: Spirituality, Celebration, and Catechesis
for Sundays and Solemnities
Year C - 2013, p. 187.
Joyce Ann Zimmerman, CPPS;
Kathleen Harmon, SND de N;
and Christopher W. Conlon, SM

Living Liturgy 2011

Liturgical Press
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For more information about Living Liturgy 2013 click picture above.

Art by Martin Erspamer, O.S.B.
from Religious Clip Art for the Liturgical Year (A, B, and C).
Used by permission of Liturgy Training Publications. This art may be reproduced only by parishes who purchase the collection in book or CD-ROM form. For more information go to: http://www.ltp.org/

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