DO NOT LIE…

Ecclesiastes 1:2,21-23 
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
21 because sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22 What has a man from all the toil and strain with which he toils beneath the sun?23 For all his days are full of pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his mind does not rest. This also is vanity.

Colossians 3:1-5,9-11

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
3 For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices10 and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
11 Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all.

Luke 12:13-21

13 One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.”14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?”
15 And he said to them, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully;17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’
18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’21 So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

MEDITATION

THE FIRST READING: The author posits that mans obsession to aquire knowledge, wisdom and a dexterous competence, can have a downside in so far as it can be a painful tool that makes man; prideful, narcissistic, conceited, filled with worry and frustration, because the God of the universe has been replaced by a false god. 

St PAUL admonish and remind the people of Colossia that their baptism transformed them into the image of Christ whereby they took on a new nature to conform to Christ. With this said, the people are ordered to desist from labeling, name-calling and belittling those who do not share their heritage, prosperity, traditions and gifts.

THE GOSPEL READING: Christ tells a parable to dissuade a follower who sought His intervention on the matter of his inheritance, to not chase after the riches of the world.

Gifts such as knowlegde, wisdom, wealth and goods are in and of itself worthy and valuable gifts, however it does not nesseserily gaurantee or promise that our lives will be blisfull and complete. Our obsession to be a celebrity that is; prosperous, illustrious, powerful and welknown can cause us to prop up a false joy which manifest by being prideful and belitteling to those who are ‘below our standard’ of living or standing. We are instead called to lay up a heavenly treasure rather than to live a lie. 

LET US PRAY:Psalms 90:3-6,12-14,17

3 Thou turnest man back to the dust, and sayest, “Turn back, O children of men!”
4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.5 Thou dost sweep men away; they are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on thy servants!14 Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Commentary. Henry R SYLVESTER Note: The daily scripture readings are taken from the Roman Missal which the Catholic Church use in the daily Celebration of the Holy Eucharist throughout the world.Some weekly readings may differ because of the celebration of local feast days.