Big Day with the Lord

(NRCS Inspirational, August 4, 2013)

On the twenty-fifth occasion to commemorate the founding of a Catholic charismatic community, "Ang Dios Gugma Catholic Ministries, Inc.," members thereof gather in what appears to be Big Day with the Lord this first Sunday of August this year, which is the eighteenth Sunday in ordinary time, for a celebration in the central Philippine City of Iloilo. The following words of wisdom from the Holy Bible serve as the inspirational message upon which

the foundation of the Community, Ang Dios Gugma (God is Love), is built. Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4: 7-8) Members share the days readings: Pleasant Words Restated Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23, NRSV) Psalter You turn us back to dust, and say, Turn back, you mortals. For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
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You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning; in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance. For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh. The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you. So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. Turn, O Lord! How long? Have compassion on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands O prosper the work of our hands!

The Good News Retold The Parable of the Rich Fool Someone in the crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me. But he said to him, Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you? And he said to them, Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for ones life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. Then he told them a parable: The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops? Then he said, I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God. (Luke 12:13-21, NRSV)