Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost; Octoechos Tone 1; Our Holy Father Ambrose, Bishop of Milan.
Nativity Fast. Resurrection Gospel 4.
Ephesians 5:9-19; Luke 12:16-21.
Read Luke 12:16-21
Habitual behavior is more about what we don’t think than what we think. Habits are learned associations between a context and a response, developed through repetition. To change a habit, we must disrupt this automatic process and force a conscious decision to be made. This requires us to think something we don’t usually think.
The thoughts that the rich man in today’s gospel “thought to himself” are a remarkable example of this omission in thinking. His thinking was not about doing something different, but how to continue doing what he had already done. He thought he had solved his problem, but he was oblivious to what his real problem was. His recline into self-indulgent idleness was not done with reference to whether his land would continue to “(bring) forth plentifully.” He didn’t think about how his fallow land could benefit others any more than he thought about how his bountiful crops could.
“The right to private property, acquired by work or received from others by inheritance or gift, does not do away with the original gift of the earth to the whole of mankind. The universal destination of goods remains primordial, even if the promotion of the common good requires respect for the right to private property and its exercise.” (CCC 2403)
Three questions are helpful in bringing new thoughts into our awareness to give us the ability to break old habits regarding material and immaterial goods:
- What do I want?
- Do I want it for others?
- What am I willing to do to get it for us all?