Welcome to St. Anthony of Padua's website. St. Anthony of Padua is a Catholic Community located in Parma, Ohio. We are part of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. Our church and grade school are located at 6750 State Road. This site is updated weekly with information from our church bulletin. Please feel free to browse our site and if you have any questions or concerns about the site please e-mail me at .
July 31, 2010
SUNDAY THOUGHT
Luke 12:13-21
Jesus tells us today in our Gospel, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” In our all too possessions conscious world this is timely advice; having too many things can, and often does affect our relationship with God and with others. We can easily fall into the trap, like the rich man in today’s Gospel who believes that his security and his worth come from the things he owns, instead of who he is as a person. A large bank account or name recognition can make us feel very important, yet they are most common illusions affecting humankind. Far from making us rich, greed ends up making us desperately poor. Jesus’ words are quite pointed in this regard. “You fool!” He tells us, “This night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong? Thus will it be for all who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.” A Christian treasures all temporal things as gifts. We welcome them and give thanks for them. We see them not so much in the light of how many riches God has heaped upon us, but as one more sign of God’s infinite love for us. Never can we love them more than we love God. The risk we will always run is loving God too little and loving His creation too much.