Episode Transcript
1
00:00:00,537 --> 00:00:03,822
When my wife and I would leave our children in the care of a babysitter,
2
00:00:03,822 --> 00:00:06,632
my youngest child would clutch his favourite little pillow.
3
00:00:07,229 --> 00:00:09,840
Standing there, fighting back tears,
4
00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:11,217
waving goodbye to us,
5
00:00:11,217 --> 00:00:14,644
clutching that pillow; his "security blanket,"
6
00:00:14,644 --> 00:00:17,718
something tangible to hold on to during anxious times.
7
00:00:18,260 --> 00:00:21,094
Today's Gospel asks us what is our security blanket?
8
00:00:21,885 --> 00:00:24,439
A couple of brothers are feuding over the family inheritance,
9
00:00:24,439 --> 00:00:27,683
perhaps anxious about their wealth and survival
10
00:00:27,683 --> 00:00:30,351
and want Jesus to adjudicate between their claims.
11
00:00:31,161 --> 00:00:33,508
Jesus tells them a story of a rich farmer.
12
00:00:34,311 --> 00:00:35,755
The rich farmer had so much
13
00:00:35,755 --> 00:00:38,429
he could pull down his barns to build even bigger ones.
14
00:00:38,882 --> 00:00:40,372
He thought he had it made.
15
00:00:40,969 --> 00:00:43,130
His possessions were his security blanket.
16
00:00:43,728 --> 00:00:46,576
When God finally speaks in the gospel story,
17
00:00:46,576 --> 00:00:49,716
note that the rich man has done most of the talking up to this point,
18
00:00:49,716 --> 00:00:51,700
talking to himself,
19
00:00:51,700 --> 00:00:53,616
God's words seem harsh and cold.
20
00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,450
“Fool, this night you will die. And all these things, whose are they now?”
21
00:00:58,610 --> 00:01:02,102
But are these words harsh, cold, or merely the facts of life?
22
00:01:02,802 --> 00:01:04,416
Our lives do not go on forever.
23
00:01:04,862 --> 00:01:06,020
Each of us is terminal.
24
00:01:06,547 --> 00:01:09,517
Life doesn't consist in the abundance of our possessions.
25
00:01:09,908 --> 00:01:11,730
So, in what does life consist?
26
00:01:12,396 --> 00:01:16,000
The one who tells the parable, Jesus, is also the parable's answer.
27
00:01:16,910 --> 00:01:18,695
During this National Vocation week,
28
00:01:18,695 --> 00:01:21,319
the parable invites us to ask,
29
00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:22,877
‘What is our security blanket?’
30
00:01:23,364 --> 00:01:25,888
Our possessions or Jesus?
