Connections&  
August 5 -- 18th Sunday of the Year

• The parable of the rich man's new grain barns:  "You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?"      Luke 12:13-21
  

It's going to be one of those days&
One morning, America's favorite feline Garfield groggily pushes himself out of his bed.  Still half asleep, he sees his face in the mirror and mumbles, "Boy, do I need a shave."  Then the loud buzzing of an electric shaver is heard and the sleepy Garfield is jolted awake:  "Wait a minute!" he cries.
     In the final panel of the cartoon, Garfield's owner Jon has run into the bathroom and is shocked to discover that Garfield has shaved off all the fur from the bottom half of his face.
     "Whaaat?" Jon cries.
     Garfield, with a very perturbed look on his newly shaven face, tosses the razor to Jon:
     "I forgot I was a cat, okay?"

CONNECTION:  Clearly it's going to be a tough day for Garfield.  But there are times, in our approach to life, when we forget who we are:  We forget that we are human beings who have been given the gift of life by a loving and gracious Creator; instead, we let ourselves  be ruled by the mindless pursuit of wealth, status and celebrity, we allow ourselves to be "owned" by what we seek to possess.  We forget that the dreams and hopes of others are as important as ours, that we have family and friends who love us despite ourselves, that God is always present in our lives, always dwelling within us, whether we are aware of God or not.  Jesus' parable in today's Gospel is a wake-up call to all of us to remember who we are called to be by God:  children of God, brothers and sisters to one another, given life that we might become fully human and live in the love and   compassion that is of God. ¦