More reflections for Gospel Sunday 18th Week Ordinary Time


My first post on this was here but I posted early this week so missed out on a thoughtful article on this Sunday's gospel on the Rich man  with an intriguing title Coats, Cold Words and Chamberpots ! by Joseph A.Komonchak from dot Commonweal .

Below is an extract of the introduction and you can read the whole article here 
The comments section is interesting too.

"I have always heard ascribed to Peter Maurin the dictum: “The coat that hangs in your closet belongs to the poor.” 
The London Catholic Worker website echoes it: “Houses of hospitality are centres for learning to do the acts of love, so that the poor can receive what is, in justice, theirs, the second coat in our closet, the spare room in our home, a place at our table. 

Anything beyond what we immediately need belongs to those who go without.”

But now I wonder whether Peter Maurin was echoing a paragraph of St. Basil the Great’s homily on next Sunday’s Gospel (Lk 12: 13-21); 

Basil represented a common view of the Fathers well summed up by the Venerable Bede: The reason the Lord reproved the man who tore down his barns in order to build bigger ones was not that he cultivated the earth and collected its fruits into his barns, but that he did not divide with the poor what went beyond his needs–in which case he wouldn’t need larger barns–but instead built larger barns in which to keep them for himself. ..............................

3 comments:

claire bangasser said...

So, Phil, when do we start sharing? emptying our wardrobe? our garage? our house?

Blue Eyed Ennis said...

Yep that's the tough one. I can't get rid of everything- for sure that would be too hard for me. Many years ago when I lived up to my ideals a bit more, I did throw cautuon to the wind and invited a homeless person who had been hanging around the church for months, into my house.I said it was a trial run !!
I bought him clothes, helped him to sort out his benefits so that he did not spend it all at once.Within a couple of days he had spent it all and came to me for more money. I said no. He went upstairs and a few minutes later came down and said he was leaving. When I went to his room all the clothes I had bought him were slashed to pieces. The next time I saw him he was in prison for assault so I considered myself very lucky !! My Mum said I had been stupid and so ended that phase of giving it all away !! Now I just do what I can in a moderate way now. !!

claire bangasser said...

Bravo for taking in the homeless, Phil. It is more than anyone I know :-) What a woman you are!