Let us pray that we use this earth’s goods wisely in the service of God and people: Father, you care, and so in you we trust. May greed not blind to pile up goods and neglect things that do not really matter. May we generously share what we have with the hungry and the poor, so that we become rich in your sight. We ask this through Christ our Lord, who was born in poverty, yet exalted most high. Amen.

(Claretian Publications)

Isaiah received a God-given vision about what their society could have been if they indeed had been willing and obedient (Isaiah 1:1, 11-17). Their rebellion against God’s command to care for the most vulnerable in society brought disastrous consequences. God does not overlook any society’s injustice toward its most vulnerable citizens, including our own! Jesus himself talks about judging the nations based upon their treatment of their society’s most vulnerable. Tradition has it that Isaiah was sawn into by the evil King Manasseh, and we know what happened to Jesus.

We have not arrived and we know we can do better. Until we reach the “other side,” God gives us the grace to be willing and obedient in order to set things right so that the present and future can be different (Isaiah 1:18-20). This fosters hope for a better world, both today and tomorrow.

Once there was a man living the American Dream in ancient Palestine (Luke 12:16-21). He was so successful that he had to build bigger barns to hold all his goodies, yet he neglected to think of God when his untimely death occurred. The parable is called “The Rich Fool” because he was not rich toward God. His sin was not eating, drinking, and making merry; rather, his sin was that he prevented others from doing the same by hoarding his wealth.

(W. Robert McClelland)

May we be rich toward God in this life to make life more bearable for all, especially the most vulnerable as Jesus would say it.