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This Hoard of Yours, Whose Will it Be Then?
The Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21)
A reflection on the Gospel from the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
Written by Mr Casimir Douglas
“This is what I will do; I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all of my grain and goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” (Luke 12:18-19)
There is an old story of two people who meet on a street corner and strike up a conversation about the events of the day. One asks the other, “Did you hear that the wealthy man who lives on the hill has passed away? I wonder how much he left behind?” The other thought for a moment and replied, “All of it.”
The story above is a gross but sincere simplification of Jesus’ message in the Parable of the Rich Fool. All that you make, and have, and hoard will be no good to you when the time comes to return to the Lord, so instead ‘make yourself rich in the sight of God’ (Luke 12:21). But this is not Jesus demonising wealth. After all, this is Jesus who implored his Disciples to cast the net on the right hand side of the boat for bountiful catch (John 21:6), and who also exclaimed to the crowds, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Mark 12:17).
Again in this story Christ is faced by a large crowd. But Jesus shares this parable in response to a strange command. In Chapter 12 of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus had just been teaching about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, when a voice from the crowd demanded: “Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance” (Luke 12:13). Quite off topic! You could imagine Jesus, performing a literal facepalm before delivering his swift condemnation. But the arraignment is not for asking Jesus to adjudicate his financial affairs, but because the question revealed whom the man serves; himself. Notice that it wasn’t a request or a question; it was a demand and a command. The man simply wished to use and exploit Jesus for his own gain, without any thought of giving back.
The challenge from the Gospel writer, Luke, in this passage is as prevalent now in our consumerist society, as it was to his audience of Gentile Christians in first century Judea. Jesus is not against prosperity and flourishing. But in our striving, acquiring, accumulating and producing, the challenge from Christ is: whom do you serve? God, community and family? Or yourself?
In the Parable of Rich Fool, Jesus essentially holds up a mirror to the man who shouted the directive from the throngs. The Rich Fool only serves himself. The short passage contains more than ten uses of the personal pronouns: I, my, me, mine. Jesus is also careful to identify at the start of the parable that it is the land that is doing the producing and growing, not the Rich Fool who is simply seeking to use and exploit the earth, without any thought of giving back.
For the St Thomas More’s Catholic School community, our teachers and staff are fully committed to the growth, development, flourishing and prosperity of every student in our care. It is our task in the short time we have with them to support every facet of their striving, acquiring, accumulating and producing; but also to draw them into a life where it is accomplished in the service of God, community and family.
Friday 29th July, 2022
Dear Parents and Carers,
SALUTATION
Grace to you and peace. Welcome back to school and the learning journey of Term 3 at St Thomas More's Catholic School!
STM TV!
And... welcome to STM TV!
STM TV is a weekly episodic YouTube show that will be shared with our community through the School Newsletter and other relevant social media channels. Hosted by our School and House Captains each week, STM TV is designed to shine a spotlight on the key learning experiences of nominated students each week in order to engage parents and the broader community in the learning journey of our school through fun and frequent insight into the student learning experience.
Please note that STM TV is not scripted, practised, or meant to be polished. It is intended capture earnest and in the moment conversations between students about their everyday learning in the classroom.
Please find below the episode for Term 3 - Week 1, 2022 which explores insects, holidays, jellyfish and tree-planting! We hope you enjoy!
GOSPEL VALUE AWARDS: RESPECT
At our Monday morning Prayer Assembly this week, I spoke to our students about our focus Gospel value for the month of August: RESPECT. I highlighted to our students that to live with the value of respect is to: be kind, be thankful, and be positive. I highlighted that Jesus' message of treating one another as you would like to treated, perfectly captures the Gospel value of Respect.
The following students received a Gospel Value Award during the School Assembly as nominated by their class teacher for exemplifying the Gospel value of Respect this week:
Ella White | Prep More |
Maxwell Cooney | Prep Thomas |
Edward Ferguson | Grade 1/2 More |
Esther Cassidy | Grade 1/2 Saint |
Foram Garaniya | Grade 1/2 Thomas |
Maicy Garwood | Grade 3/4 More |
Pippa Harmey | Grade 3/4 Saint |
Tess Allie | Grade 3/4 Thomas |
Phoebe Dilger | Grade 5/6 More |
Ashlee Sheehan | Grade 5/6 Saint |
Maeve Kok-Connors | Grade 5/6 Thomas |
These students will also attend the Principal’s Morning Tea this coming Tuesday (2nd August) morning during first break at 10:50am with myself and Fr Chathura Silva and/or Fr Jesse Banez.
THE BIG PLANT
On the morning of Thursday (28th July) our Grade 5/6 students participated in The Big Plant, the single largest National Tree Day event in our city's history. The Big Plant is an initiative coordinated by Launceston City Council and Tamar Natural Resource Management that will see more than 8000 native trees planted on 176 hectares of land surrounding the Launceston Waste Centre in Mowbray.
I wish to commend all of our students who participated enthusiastically in this event, and also to the Grade 5/6 teaching team of Ms Jessica McLauchlan, Mrs Aimee Rooney, Mr Anthony Healey, and Mrs Christine Flynn for their support, organisation and leadership of the school's engagement in this initiative.
BOOK WEEK - SHADOW JUDGING
Our celebrations of The Children's Book Council of Australia's (CBCA) Book Week is rapidly approaching. Indeed, it is now time for staff, students and parents to start getting your costumes organised! Remember, it must be BOOK (not movie) characters!
In the lead up the the Book Week festivities, our Teacher-Librarian, Mrs Rebecca Thomas, has organised for our students to participate in CBCA's Sun Project for Illuminating Children’s Literature. The project enables groups of young people across Australia to judge the CBCA Book of the Year Shortlist alongside our esteemed judging panel. Schools are admitted on an application basis and are blessed to be involved in the program!
This week, select students participated in a two hour-long workshop with well-known Tasmanian author, Christina Booth. Christina explored with the students; her writing and illustrating process, how a picture book is created, and the CBCA Book of the Year judging criteria. This proved most helpful for our student Shadow Judges in their voting for Book of the Year!
FINAL GREETING
May the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
God bless,
Mr Casimir Douglas
Principal
Congratulations to those students who received awards at assembly today!
Sacrament of Confirmation & Faith Sharing sessions
We present to you our STM Sacrament of Confirmation and we wish them all the blessings as they prepare for their Sacrament over the coming weeks.
Term 3 Baton walk off and racing
Hello walkers,
The Pass The Baton challenge has started again for Term 3.
And it has been a busy week!
We are still in Western Australia with Prep M marching us from Geraldton to Perth. Then Prep T was able to get us from Perth to Albany.
The baton now passes to 3/4M, who will travel from Albany to Cape Le Grand National Park.
We are now over 66 per cent through the entire journey around the country, and even more astoundingly (drum roll) ... over 14 million extra steps have been stomped, run, walked, skipped, star jumped and even hopped around the school during the winter months.
Also, we are pleased to announce that at the end of the walk, we will be giving EVERY student an Athletics Australia Active Band wristband! This will be to further support keeping our students active in a fun way.
More details in the coming weeks, here's a sneak peek: https://weetbixactivebands.com.au/schools
On Tuesday this week, a group of Grade 5/6 students attended a virtual workshop with the wonderful Tasmanian author and illustrator Christina Booth. This visit was part of a new program from the CBCA - the Sun Project - which allows students to act as shadow judges for the CBCA Book of the Year Awards. Christina gave us insight into her creative process for both her writing and illustrating and read to us from her wonderful book One Careless Night. She also talked to us about the judging criteria for the Book of the Year Awards. Special thanks to Christina Booth and to the CBCA for providing us with this amazing opportunity.
Rebecca Thomas
Librarian
Holiday reflections by Gr 3/4M
Our students have been busy writing about their holidays - please enjoy their reflections, what wonderful holidays they have had!
St Patrick's College is proud to present James Morrison and his amazing quartet in concert at the Launceston Conference Centre on Saturday, 20 August. But there's more! He is also delivering a brass workshop. With the support of Barratts Music, St Patrick's College is offering a workshop with James for the music community, band members and students. We are very excited to share this news and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Concert Link to Facebook - https://fb.me/e/1FC9m80bi
Attached is our Launceston Parish bulletin for 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time C (30/31 July 2022).
Regards,
Fr Mark Freeman