Sunday Liturgy, August 3, 2025

Texts taken from the missal “On Your Word” July-August 2025

18Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)  – 2nd week omitted.

First Reading

From the Book of Qoheleth (Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23)

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities: all is vanity. Those who have worked with wisdom, knowledge, and success must then leave their portion to someone who has not worked for it at all. This too is vanity and a great evil. For what profit does a person gain from all their toil and from the anxiety of their heart, with which they labor under the sun? All their days are nothing but pain and distress; even at night their heart does not rest. This too is vanity!

The Word of God.

Commentary on the First Reading

There is a great difference between pessimism and realism. Qoheleth, who at first sight represents the most pessimistic book in the entire Bible, is in fact the clearest expression of the realism that is necessary in life. In other words, one must know that nothing in the world can give a person rest and lasting happiness. Everything passes, even what seems as though it should never end. Realism, then, means detachment above all: this means being able to give freely without having to expect anything in return, in the serene awareness that after you, others will come who may enjoy the fruits of your work; this is the law that God has inscribed in the heart of creation. Accept it with love and surrender.

Second Reading

From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Colossians (Col 3:1-5, 9-11)

Brothers and sisters, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; set your minds on things that are above, not on earthly things. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God! When Christ, your life, is revealed, then you too will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, what belongs to the earth: impurity, immorality, passions, evil desires, and that greed which is idolatry. Do not lie to one another: you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free person, but Christ is all and in all. 

The Word of God.

Commentary on the Second Reading

To be truly disciples of Jesus, we must learn to embody his message in our own lives. To do this, however, we need to make courageous choices that, at certain moments, may cost us dearly. This is what Saint Paul points to when he uses an expression that, at first sight, might frighten us: putting to death what belongs to the earth. When we read the text carefully, we realize that the practices listed by the apostle are in themselves already life-destroying. The fact is that we are so accustomed to living with these realities that we fail to realize that, by freeing ourselves from them, we would be much freer and happier. Therefore, we must not be afraid to free ourselves from every form of idolatry present in our hearts.

Gospel

From the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 12:13-21)

At that time, someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he replied, “Man, who appointed me as a judge or mediator between you?” And he said to them, “Take care and beware of all greed, because even if someone is wealthy, his life does not consist in what he possesses.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced an abundant harvest. He reasoned with himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops? I will do this,’ he said. ‘I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. Then I will say to myself: My soul, you have many goods stored up for many years; rest, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself!’ But God said to him, ‘Fool, this very night your life will be demanded of you. And what you have prepared, whose will it be?’ Thus it is for the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich in what matters to God.”

The word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel

There are situations in which Jesus shows that he also cares about the more practical aspects of life. However, we must not be mistaken: the Lord does this because he wants to make his contemporaries and all of us understand that the eternal is found above all in everyday realities. But woe to us if we try to exploit him for our own interests, which have little to do with seeking God. This is what lies behind the request of the man who asks Jesus to intervene and bring justice between him and his brother over the division of the inheritance. Money, even when earned honestly, can awaken in us greed that has lain dormant for a long time; once awakened, it can make us violent and uncompromising toward others. Always watch over your heart, to prevent the same thing from happening to you.