This Sunday (July 31, 2022), all of today's readings warn us not to focus on accumulating things of this world. Things of this world are not just wealth, but anything else that substitutes for God, such as power, pleasure, and honor. We can't take them with us. In today's Gospel Jesus tells us that we should instead seek to become "rich in what matters to God"?
What matters to God?
In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul described God as "rich in mercy" (Eph. 2:4). Numerous passages of the Old Testament praise God as "slow to anger and abounding in mercy" (see Psalm 145:8). In the Gospel of Mark (9:13), Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea (6:6) saying "I desire mercy, not sacrifice".
Perhaps we should seek to become rich in mercy.
Challenge for the week:
Let's take a personal inventory of things we are accumulating. Do we have wealth? power? pleasure? honor? Imagine God asking us, "the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?" Listen in prayer for God calling you to use those things as tools for being merciful.
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