Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord today. We welcome guest reader Deacon Eric Bissette.
Deacon Eric is a beloved spiritual leader in his home parishes of the Diocese of Rochester, New York.
Little Book's listeners will recognize Deacon Eric as a regular narrator for our daily reflections.
And now, here is today's gospel and homily.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: A reading from the Holy Gospel According to Luke.
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.
He replied to him, friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator.
Then he said to the crowd, take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions.
Then he told them a parable.
There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, what shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?
And he said, this is what I shall do. I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods. And I shall say to myself, now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years. Rest, eat, drink, be merry.
But God said to him, you fool, this night your life will be demanded of you and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?
Thus will be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.
The Gospel of the Lord.
This gospel passage is about greed.
Or at least that's how we translate the word Jesus used in the Gospel.
Luke wrote his gospel in Greek, and the Greek word he uses when Jesus says, take care to guard against all greed is pleonexia.
It's made up of two words, pleo, which, which means more, and nexia, which means to want.
So what we're talking about is the condition of wanting more.
When we realize the word means to want more, we can get at the deeper meaning of this gospel passage.
I think there are very few people who have the crude selfishness and thirst for money we associate with the word greed.
No, I don't think there are many people in this world like that. And I don't think you and I have to worry about it.
But you see, it isn't quite what the word means.
It simply means to want more.
More than what?
This is where it gets interesting.
It means to want to keep more than I meant to have.
I'll tell you what opened my eyes to this.
It's something I just happen to stumble upon.
There is a disease of the blood named the same Greek word pleonexia to want more.
[00:03:46] Speaker C: It's described as a tendency of the.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: Hemoglobin of the blood to retain oxygen, yielding less than normal amounts to the tissues of the body.
Think about it. The blood receives oxygen and it keeps some for itself.
And also the blood runs throughout our bodies, so it can give some of the oxygen to the rest of the body.
Pleonexia is the condition whereby the blood keeps too much for itself.
The blood mistakenly thinks that having received.
[00:04:19] Speaker C: This oxygen, it owns the oxygen.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: The blood fails to realize that it is meant to distribute this oxygen to the body.
It distributes some to the body, but not enough.
And it ends up keeping too much for itself.
It wants more than it's meant to have.
[00:04:40] Speaker C: This is a great insight to the kind of greed we have to be concerned about.
Namely, keeping too much for ourselves, keeping more than we are meant to keep.
Everything we have, even our existence, comes from God.
It doesn't matter how much or how little we have.
The mistake is to think we own it. Allour talents, our money, our possessions.
We give some away, of course, but we can keep too much for ourselves.
God says, you're missing the point.
I placed you here to use all these gifts to make the world a better place, to help transform the human race and all creation into the reign of God.
God says, you're like the blood that.
[00:05:32] Speaker B: Runs through your body.
[00:05:34] Speaker C: You are meant to distribute this to make the whole body healthy.
[00:05:39] Speaker B: The problem then isn't raw greed trying.
[00:05:42] Speaker C: To amass more and more and more.
The problem is pleonexia keeping too much for ourselves.
The problem is forgetting why we have these talents, why we have this money, why we have these possessions.
They are given to us for the sake of the whole human race, for all creation.
Note how Jesus says we must guard against all greed.
We have to guard against it because it creeps up on us like a disease.
We should keep going back to a fundamental God created me and put me on the earth for a purpose.
This applies to all of us. Rich, poor, middle class, educated, uneducated, married, single, young, old.
God created me and put me on the earth for a purpose.
Whatever I have is meant to be used well to accomplish his purpose.
To do that, I have to be on guard against all forms of pleonexia to want more than I was meant to keep.
It can be as simple as keeping back a smile that's meant to be given to others, not kept for myself.
And compliments, affirming words and thank yous and time and skills.
Perhaps just a listening ear and money and possessions.
When we see ourselves as having these gifts like the blood sharing oxygen, we can share these gifts with others and everything looks different and it looks so much better.
Our life has more meaning.
There is a purpose to every day, every hour of our existence.
Because I realize God created me and put me on earth for a purpose, one given to no one else, I close with this.
The best antidote to the disease of pleonexia is the Eucharist.
When the gifts are brought forward and placed on the altar, they represent us and all we have.
We place everything in the Lord's hands and we join with him as he gives Himself completely to the Father.
We do it through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit and we acknowledge all honor and glory is Yours, Almighty Father, forever and ever.
Amen.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
If you like this week's reflection, subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
Sundays with Bishop Ken is a free broadcast from Little Books to help support our ministry. Please consider clicking the Donate button.
Sharing this podcast with a friend is another great way to help our ministry grow.
Our Little Books app features our Little Books daily reflections during Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter.
Here you can read, listen and journal in a prayerful digital environment.
Sundays with Bishop Ken is produced by Little Books of the Diocese of Saginaw.
For more about Little Books and scripture based prayer resources for the whole family, visit littlebooks.org have a great week and pray with us again soon.
[00:09:26] Speaker D: Sa.
