23 rd September, 2007

25 th Sunday - Year C

B: Good morning - Today we start with a question:

What do we need to make a good Living?

The first single brought out by the pop group Abba in 1972 was called “People need love”. A couple of the lines went: “People need love to make a good living – people need faith in a helping hand”.

I bet if you were to ask people today what you need to make a good living – love would not be the number one answer. I guess most people would understandably answer “money”. That money is what we need to make a good living.

D: Four years later after some hugely successful hits , Abba released a song in 1976 called “Money, money money” originally entitled “Gipsy Girl”. The song was written from the point of view of a girl who could only imagine what it would be like to have even a little money, meet a rich man , she fantasized and all her dreams would be fulfilled. The song went: “all the things I could do, if I had a little money – it’s a rich man’s world”.

B: St. Luke reminds us this weekend that we cannot serve both God and money! We must never forget that prosperity and wealth brings with it responsibility – a responsibility for us Christians to ensure that wealth is shared. There is no doubt that in the past few years many in our country have experienced an improvement in living standards – though sometimes I wonder at what cost! There is no doubt that we work hard for what we have –

today we are being invited to wonder and to ask the question: With our new found wealth are we in control of our lives or does it control us?

How free am I?

D: One of the drawbacks of our recent prosperity , is that we have a much greater job reminding ourselves that there are others who are so well off and filled with forgetfulness we need to be reminded, we need to show an interest in finding out what structures contribute to keeping certain people poor and why? And what can we do to help others make a good living?

I leave you with the question:

What do we need to make a good living?

B: You’ve been listening to “Just a thought” with Brenda Cribbin

D: and David Bracken. We can be contacted through the Limerick Diocesan Offices at Henry Street. You can also download your own copy of this reflection by clicking on limerickdiocese.org

B: We look forward to your company again next week. So in the meantime, take care!

D & B: Bye !!!!!!!

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