Guided reflection:

Another of Luke’s aside stories: Two brothers are fighting over an inheritance and one wants Jesus to make his brother divide it. Jesus is not the judge over inheritances, but he does know that a question like this, before a group of people, has a root of envy and covetousness in it! So, instead of doing what the man wants, he speaks to what the man needs to hear… life is not about who has the most stuff! Then Jesus tells the story of a man who had so much stuff he had to build a bigger garage for all his stuff! And the man loves to look at his stuff and he fills satisfied – “wow, I am so lucky to have all this stuff!” but Jesus calls him a fool – if you focus on the stuff of this world, you cannot be focused on heavenly treasures. OK, look at your stuff. Do you have lots of stuff? Now, imagine your investment account in heaven – do you have a list of heavenly treasurers or are all of your treasures in your stuffed garage? Gulp! Are you more a consumer or are you a creator?

Guided prayer:

“Well, Lord, this is where the rubber hits the road. I like my stuff… and I wish I had more and better stuff. I think all my stuff makes me a cool person. How foolish can I be? Show me what is more important to you and help me to let go of by covetousness around acquiring stuff and who has more and if I will get my share of the inheritance… help me to seek you first. Amen”