Rich in Righteousness

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to to invest in growing our faith as the path to riches in fullness of life.

Contemplate a Path to Righteousness

The Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans treats our Inheritance through Faith.

* [4:1–25] This is an expanded treatment of the significance of Abraham’s faith, which Paul discusses in Gal 3:6–18; see notes there

* [4:20] He did not doubt God’s promise in unbelief: any doubts Abraham might have had were resolved in commitment to God’s promise. Heb 11:8–12 emphasizes the faith of Abraham and Sarah. (Romans, CHAPTER 4, n.d.)

The Response from the Gospel of Luke is The Canticle of Zechariah.

* [1:68–79] Like the canticle of Mary (Lk 1:46–55) the canticle of Zechariah is only loosely connected with its context. Apart from Lk 1:76–77, the hymn in speaking of a horn for our salvation (Lk 1:69) and the daybreak from on high (Lk 1:78) applies more closely to Jesus and his work than to John. Again like Mary’s canticle, it is largely composed of phrases taken from the Greek Old Testament and may have been a Jewish Christian hymn of praise that Luke adapted to fit the present context by inserting Lk 1:76–77 to give Zechariah’s reply to the question asked in Lk 1:66.

* [1:69] A horn for our salvation: the horn is a common Old Testament figure for strength (Ps 18:3; 75:5–6; 89:18; 112:9; 148:14). This description is applied to God in Ps 18:3 and is here transferred to Jesus. The connection of the phrase with the house of David gives the title messianic overtones and may indicate an allusion to a phrase in Hannah’s song of praise (1 Sm 2:10), “the horn of his anointed.” (Luke, CHAPTER 1 |USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus shares the Parable of the Rich Fool.

* [12:13–34] Luke has joined together sayings contrasting those whose focus and trust in life is on material possessions, symbolized here by the rich fool of the parable (Lk 12:16–21), with those who recognize their complete dependence on God (Lk 12:21), those whose radical detachment from material possessions symbolizes their heavenly treasure (Lk 12:33–34).

* [12:21] Rich in what matters to God: literally, “rich for God.” (Luke, CHAPTER 12, n.d.)

Candice Tucci, OSF, comments that saving for what is needed is responsible stewardship. On the other hand, hoarding is not.

For what we have beyond our needs, a little comfort or entertainment is good for body and soul. However, this does not, as Christians, free us, nor society, nor government, from sharing with those who are in need and provide for healthy living. 

Scripture gives us riches and wealth to consider how we are living our lives, both in material wealth and spiritual treasure. Catholic Social Teaching and the Beatitudes, Mathew 5: 3-12,  are foundational to living our lives as is this one Gospel passage for today. 

How much is stored in barns? What’s in the piggy bank? What is an understanding of good stewardship, especially as citizens? What are personal and societal priorities? Ignorance and greed? Love and compassion?

Mutually with the help of God, our creator, we can restore and mend our broken world. (Tucci, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Surrounded by wealth, blind to charity,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).

"'What does the rich man do, surrounded by a great supply of many blessings beyond all numbering? In distress and anxiety, he speaks the words of poverty. He says, 'What should I do?' ... He does not look to the future. He does not raise his eyes to God. He does not count it worth his while to gain for the mind those treasures that are above in heaven. He does not cherish love for the poor or desire the esteem it gains. He does not sympathize with suffering. It gives him no pain nor awakens his pity. Still more irrational, he settles for himself the length of his life, as if he would also reap this from the ground. He says, 'I will say to myself, "Self, you have goods laid up for many years. Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself." 'O rich man,' one may say, "You have storehouses for your fruits, but where will you receive your many years? By the decree of God, your life is shortened." 'God,' it tells us, 'said to him, "You fool, this night they will require of you your soul. Whose will these things be that you have prepared?" (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 89) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Romans 4:20-25 comments that it helps to have models of faith like Abraham to encourage us as we strive to hold fast to God’s promises.

How about you? Jesus has promised you eternal life. He has promised that he will never abandon you. He has promised that you can live as his son or daughter here and now. These promises are solid, faithful, and true. Abraham was fully convinced. Daudi and Jildo were fully convinced. So take courage! When you read about heroes like these, you can almost taste heaven!

“Lord, strengthen my faith as I recall the saints and martyrs who have gone before me!” (Meditation on Romans 4:20-25, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that Paul uses the Abraham story to speak about righteousness or peace with God as opposed to the Pharisees' scrupulosity. We trust in the goodness of God as an example is Jesus teaching that if we truly have this faith we will be righteous. Abraham did try to “hedge his bets” so his faith had to grow over time culminating in his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. In Luke’s Gospel, someone asks Jesus to arbitrate like the Jewish rabbis but Jesus warns us not to give in to greed in His parable, where the rich man died. We have to trust in Providence in our generosity and avoid making our possessions into idols. Friar Jude reminds us that we can only take love with us!

Fr. Mike Schmitz focuses on the theme of disciplining children, reflected in our readings from Sirach and Proverbs today. He clarifies that there is a crucial difference between discipline and destruction, and emphasizes that disciplining children should always be grounded in love and oriented towards their success in the future. Today's readings 1 Maccabees 12, Sirach 30-31, and Proverbs 23:13-16.

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Director of the Center for Spiritual Imagination Adam Bucko who describes how practices of contemplation have evolved and enlivened the Christian faith.

Contemplation, then, is not a separate path or a unique calling. It is Christianity itself, lived with depth and honesty. It is the heart of the Christian tradition, stretching from Jesus to the desert to today. And as our understanding of the human person has deepened—through psychology, neuroscience, and trauma studies—we are invited to add new tools, not because the tradition was wrong, but because it was formed in a different time, with less knowledge of how we carry and transmit pain. These new tools help us to heal, to stay present, and to love more freely. 

In the end, contemplation is not about escaping life but entering it more fully. It is how we listen for God in the silence—and how we hear God in the cries of the poor, the groaning of creation, and the joy of being alive. It is how we remember what’s good and live from that place for the sake of the world. (Rohr, n.d.)

We are aided by the Spirit as we reflect on the role of the themes in Catholic Social Teaching to shape our action as disciples of Christ.

References

Luke, CHAPTER 12. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/12?13 

Luke, CHAPTER 1 |USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved October 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1?69 

Meditation on Romans 4:20-25. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved October 20, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/10/20/1410739/ 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved October 20, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/contemplation-is-christianity/ 

Romans, CHAPTER 4. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved October 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/4?20 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Storing up True Riches. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved October 20, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Tucci, C. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved October 20, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-october-20-2025 

Alive in Christ

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, remind us of the Grace and Goodness of God through which we called to full and eternal life.

Recalling Lives 

 

  The readings chosen by the CCCB differ from the USCCB readings today. In the Book of Job, he replies: “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.” Psalm 103 is Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness. The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians declares “ all will be made alive in Christ.” In the Gospel of John, Jesus reveals that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain.”

 

Beth Samson invites us to begin today with a litany, spending time saying aloud or naming within our heart, all those who have passed from this earthly life.

Loving God, Creator God, God who delights in us and with whom we will spend our eternal days, we come to you in prayer today. We pray for all those who have departed this earthly life, especially those in purgatory, that they soon might come to experience the fullness of joy in heaven. We pray in gratitude for their lives, their witness of Your love, and their impact on earth. We pray for all those who mourn the death of a loved one, may they experience your comfort and grace. We pray in thanksgiving for the gift of eternal life with you, may each of the faithfully departed come to rest in peace with you forever. We pray all this through the intercession of the Communion of Saints, whose prayers join in ours today and always. Amen.1

 

Don Schwager quotes “Whoever sees and believes,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"He has said two things: 'This is the work of God that you should believe in the one whom he has sent,' while here he added, 'whoever sees and believes.' The Jews saw but did not believe; they had the one condition, lacked the other. How could they attain to eternal life without the other? The reason those who saw did not attain eternal life was because they did not also believe. If so, what about us who have believed but have not seen? If it is those two things that earn eternal life, seeing and believing - and whoever is lacking one of them cannot attain to the reward of eternal life - what are we to do? The Jews [who saw him] lacked the one; we the other. They had seeing but lacked believing. We have believing but lack seeing. Well, as regards our having believing and lacking seeing, we have prophetically been declared blessed by the Lord himself just as Thomas, one of the Twelve, was blessed when he felt [Jesus'] scars by touching them." (excerpt from HOLY VIRGINITY 3.1)2 

The Word Among Us Meditation on John 6:37-40 comments that Jesus makes a remarkable promise: “I will not reject anyone who comes to me” (John 6:37). His mercy is so great that if we come to him with humble faith and sincere repentance, he will cleanse us and heal us, no matter what we have done. How comforting! In this promise, we find the courage to pray that our loved ones will experience this healing, even after death. Not only that, but we find the courage to trust that the Lord who welcomes them will also heal and welcome us when we see him face-to-face.

Today, we pray for all who have died, that God’s holy and perfect love will continue to purify them so that they can be fully united with the Lord. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote, may they “become fully open to receiving God and able to take [their] place at the table of the eternal marriage-feast” (Spe Salvi, 46). May nothing hinder them: no sin, no fear or shame, no wounds from the sins of others. Let nothing keep them from Jesus and his healing love. “Lord Jesus, have mercy on us sinners.”3 

Friar Jude Wisdom reflects on the texts chosen by the USCCB including the DeuteroCanonical Book of Wisdom. We will participate in heaven in the sense of being divinized as expressed in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Friar Jude reminds us that God’s mercy is greater than our sins. We have the freedom to choose the Love with which God created us.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that a robust commitment to the common good dates to the very beginnings of our faith and is rooted in both the Old and New Testaments. The Hebrew scriptures call readers to look beyond their own self interest to create a just and healthy community; and the Gospels teach us to love God with all of our heart, mind, and soul, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The so-called vertical line toward God must be embodied by a horizontal line toward everything else. The Catholic vision of the common good is as clear as it is challenging. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, which the Vatican released in 2004, notes that the specific “demands” of the common good are deeply connected to the fundamental dignity and rights of the human person.

These demands concern above all the commitment to peace, the organization of the State’s powers, a sound juridical system, the protection of the environment, and the provision of essential services to all, some of which are at the same time human rights: food, housing, work, education and access to culture, transportation, basic health care, the freedom of communication and expression, and the protection of religious freedom. [1]4

 

As we bring to mind our deceased friends and family we meditate on the eternal nature of the Love that gives us Life.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online Ministries. Retrieved November 2, 2021, fromhttps://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/110221.html
2	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 2, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2021&date=nov2a
3	(n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved November 2, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/11/02/237380/
4	(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: 2021 - Richard Rohr. Retrieved November 2, 2021, fromhttps://cac.org/a-concern-for-the-good-of-the-world-2021-11-02/

Doing Likewise

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate friendship and social responsibility as the passages resonate with Pope Francis third encyclical “In Fratelli tutti.”

Neighbour on the road

 

The reading from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians stresses there is no other Gospel and expresses Paul’s vindication of his Apostleship.

 

* [1:6–10] In place of the usual thanksgiving (see note on Rom 1:8), Paul, with little to be thankful for in the Galatian situation, expresses amazement at the way his converts are deserting the gospel of Christ for a perverted message. He reasserts the one gospel he has preached (Gal 1:7–9) and begins to defend himself (Gal 1:10).1

Psalm 111 offers praise for God’s wonderful works.

 

* [Psalm 111] A Temple singer (Ps 111:1) tells how God is revealed in Israel’s history (Ps 111:2–10). The deeds reveal God’s very self, powerful, merciful, faithful. The poem is an acrostic, each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.2

The passage from the Gospel of Luke is the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

 

* [10:25–37] In response to a question from a Jewish legal expert about inheriting eternal life, Jesus illustrates the superiority of love over legalism through the story of the good Samaritan. The law of love proclaimed in the “Sermon on the Plain” (Lk 6:27–36) is exemplified by one whom the legal expert would have considered ritually impure (see Jn 4:9). Moreover, the identity of the “neighbor” requested by the legal expert (Lk 10:29) turns out to be a Samaritan, the enemy of the Jew (see note on Lk 9:52).3

David Crawford considers “Who is my neighbor?”  He admits that sometimes, when he asks that seemingly innocent question, what he really wants to know is: “What are the exceptions to this commandment?  The limits?  Who can he exclude?  Surely you don’t mean him or her? Who is in MY group of neighbors, and who makes up the THEM group I can despise, or at least ignore?”

 

There are neighbors all around us who need love and mercy.  They have been beaten up and isolated economically, emotionally, physically, medically – and the pandemic and political crises have intensified the pain for many.  My challenge is to respond as a Good Samaritan.  I can’t withhold help until I am sure that I am not inconvenienced or until I am sure that the person is part of a group I support.  I need to offer aid, even if I don’t like the political sign in my neighbor’s yard, if he has been intolerant about faith, race, or immigration, if she hasn’t thanked me for the last time I helped, if . . . .  You get the idea. It can be easy to say the words about loving God with all heart, being, strength and mind, and loving a neighbor.  With the parable, Jesus gives us an idea of what that means.  Now go and do likewise.4

Don Schwager quotes “God desires to be our neighbor,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

 "God our Lord wished to be called our neighbor. The Lord Jesus Christ meant that he was the one who gave help to the man lying half-dead on the road, beaten and left by the robbers. The prophet said in prayer, 'As a neighbor and as one's own brother, so did I please' (Psalm 34:14 ). Since the divine nature is far superior and above our human nature, the command by which we are to love God is distinct from our love of our neighbor. He shows mercy to us because of his own goodness, while we show mercy to one another because of God's goodness. He has compassion on us so that we may enjoy him completely, while we have compassion on another that we may completely enjoy him. (excerpt from CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION 33)5

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 10:25-37 comments that it is likely that each of us will “pass by” someone in need today.

 

Jesus shared this parable to illustrate how God defines love and how he invites us to love the people around us. Loving our neighbor often translates to some level of personal sacrifice. It requires us to be accessible. It might call us out of our comfort zone, or it might mean giving of our time and resources. Maybe we don’t feel we have anything extra to give at that moment.6

Friar Jude Winkler offers background to Paul’s warnings about an alternate gospel. Our love of God and neighbour calls on our mind, soul, possessions, conscience, and resources. Friar Jude connects the Good Samaritan to a Good Taliban in our time.

 

Damian Howard SJ, the Provincial of the Jesuits in Britain, comments if universal love is to be more than a pious soundbite, one is entitled to ask what it looks like in practice and how one learns to act on it.

 

In answer to the first question, Pope Francis offers [In Fratelli tutti] one parable and two Christian lives. The parable, of course, is that of the so-called Good Samaritan, which is the scriptural heart of the encyclical, carefully read in chapter two, ‘A Stranger on the Road’. The two lives are those of Francis of Assisi and Charles de Foucauld, the nineteenth century founder of the Little Brothers of Jesus, both radical men of God whose missionary activity notably included outreach to the Muslim world.7

“Fratelli tutti”.[1] With these words, Saint Francis of Assisi addressed his brothers and sisters and proposed to them a way of life marked by the flavour of the Gospel.

 Of the counsels Francis offered, I would like to select the one in which he calls for a love that transcends the barriers of geography and distance, and declares blessed all those who love their brother “as much when he is far away from him as when he is with him”.[2] In his simple and direct way, Saint Francis expressed the essence of a fraternal openness that allows us to acknowledge, appreciate and love each person, regardless of physical proximity, regardless of where he or she was born or lives.8

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that in a recent homily given in Assisi itself, Father Michael Perry, the Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor (the name Francis gave us), shared his vision of Francis’ message and legacy for our time.

 

In the Canticle [of the Creatures] Francis celebrates God’s loving presence in all of creation. He looks to nature for guidance on how we are to model our relationships with God, one another, and with the natural world. . . . This one [community], this common home, has been created by God and given the vocation to love, serve, and honor the Creator by loving, serving and honoring one another. Humans and the creaturely world have as their vocation the duty to support and complete one another, not to compete against and destroy one another. We are co-responsible with and for one another, especially for the poor and excluded. We are co-responsible for the life of the natural environment, showing gratitude and respecting nature’s proper limits, not pushing the planet to the brink of ecological disaster. [3]9

We are called to be the one who shows mercy toward others as described in the “Fratelli tutti” encyclical of Pope Francis.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Galatians, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB. Retrieved October 5, 2020, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/galatians/1
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 111 | USCCB. Retrieved October 5, 2020, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/111
3	(n.d.). Luke, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB. Retrieved October 5, 2020, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/10
4	(n.d.). Daily Reflections - Online Ministries .... Retrieved October 5, 2020, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/100520.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture .... Retrieved October 5, 2020, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2020&date=oct5
6	(n.d.). The Word Among Us. Retrieved October 5, 2020, from https://wau.org/meditations/2020/10/05/176635/
7	(2020, October 5). Saving liberalism from itself | Thinking Faith: The online .... Retrieved October 5, 2020, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/saving-liberalism-itself
8	(2020, October 4). Fratelli tutti (3 October 2020) | Francis - vatican.va. Retrieved October 5, 2020, from http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.html
9	(2020, October 5). An Invitation to Cosmic Community — Center for Action and .... Retrieved October 5, 2020, from https://cac.org/an-invitation-to-cosmic-community-2020-10-05/