The Greed Trap:  It is easy to regard possessions as treasures and to find so much pleasure in them that we want more and more…How do we let ourselves fall into this trap? Certainly, advertisements play a role in convincing us we need to own everything that is new and improved…Our own insecurities also play a role—the more we possess, the more important we tend to think we are. {But as Luke records here], greed is a sin that is addictive. Instead of feeling fulfilled by attaining the thing we crave, we feel that; what we have still isn’t enough. It is a vicious cycle…The solution…is sharing—that value we learned when we were very small. Sharing our time and possessions makes us “rich in what matters to God” (v. 21.). (emphasis added)

—Excerpt from the ’Live it!
 St. Mary’s Press Youth Bible 3rd Edition, Pg. 1447.

You can’t take it with you!

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. cf. Ps. 90:1

Did you hear what Jesus had to say in the Gospel of Luke—The Parable of the Rich Fool. (Mass Readings for July 31, 2022). Should we build bigger houses or get more storage space? Or, should we give away what we don’t need to someone who does? It’s a tough message today.

Fr. Max Striedl Homily 7-31-22: Building Your Heavenly Home – Virtues in Heaven

Have you read Luke Chapter 12 recently? Jesus is trying to teach us something! Remembering all that I should have learned in Kindergarten is a good start for today. Sharing and caring. Being considerate. #17 – Serve each other in love. (Galatians) What is influencing you? What can you do TODAY to load up those bricks of virtues that will make up your heavenly home.

“These are the things I learned (in Kindergarten):

1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don’t hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
7. Say you’re SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life – learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.”
― Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Some comic relief? George Carlin talks about where to put his stuff. (language warning!) https://youtu.be/MvgN5gCuLac

What happens on the way to the Stuff Mart in this episode of Veggie Tales? Madame Blueberry is so blue that she needs to go shopping. This is pretty funny! Love the girl who gives thanks every day! Great songs that my adult kids probably could sing even today! https://youtu.be/eR4ymou4D8o

Treasure in Heaven. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” Mt 6:19-21