“Beware of all covetousness… life does not depend on the goods you have.”

Today’s Gospel, with a great deal of realism and timeliness, presents us with a scene in which Jesus, with his infinite wisdom, leads us to review the decisive value that money has acquired in our current society. It is as if the temptation to possess things and have power that we all carry within us has become the engine that moves not only capitalist society but each one individually. Let us contemplate the scene, listen to Jesus and look at the folly of the man in the parable, conceited by his economic success and concerned with enlarging the barns where he accumulates, without having a compassionate gaze on so many who need his solidarity, and without considering the fragility of life that can fail when we least expect it. Let us let Jesus’ warning resound: “Beware of all covetousness… life does not depend on the goods you have.”