RENUNGAN PAGI. 11 Nov 2017. Tuhan Atau Harta.

 UANG adalah tuan yang buruk tapi pelayan yang hebat.

*P.T. Barnum*

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*Tuhan Atau Harta*

TIDAK dapat dipungkiri bahwa hidup di dunia memerlukan uang, namun bukan berarti bahwa uang adalah segalanya.

Kita harus senantiasa mengutamakan Tuhan dan mengabdi kepadaNya secara total, bukan hanya setengah-setengah.

Tidak mungkin seseorang dapat mengabdi kepada dua tuan, karena dengan memprioritaskan yang satu, maka yang lain akan terabaikan.

Tuhan tidak melarang kita untuk mencari dan memiliki harta kekayaan, namun hendaknya kita menyikapinya dengan cara yang tepat. Jadikan harta sebagai sarana, bukan tujuan hidup.

Karena ketika kita memilih untuk menjadikan harta sebagai tujuan hidup, maka saat itu juga kita jatuh di dalam genggaman kekuasaannya. Kita menjadi hambanya yang siap melakukan tindakan apa saja demi memperolehnya.

Mari selalu andalkan Tuhan dan jadikan harta sebagai sarana untuk berbagi, menyalurkan berkat dan kebaikan bagi sesama.

Lakukan dengan tulus dan berlandaskan kasih, tanpa ditunggangi oleh motivasi yang mengarah kepada kepentingan pribadi atau kelompok.

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*RENUNGAN PAGI :                                                  

Sekiranya 'jalan kita' terlihat _menurun,_ bukan hal yang mustahil, bahwa TUHAN sedang membawa kita naik  dengan cara-Nya yang ajaib, makin dekat ke tujuan-Nya !* Yes55: 8-9. 

*Selamat Pagi, selamat beraktifitas di akhir pekan dalam kasih karunia-Nya sepanjang hari... 

Enjoy your weekend with HIS joy !

 GBU all.*

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Saturday, 11th NOVEMBER
St Martin of Tours, bishop
Luke 16:9-15

Jesus said to his disciples, "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

'Mammon' means greed or material wealth. You can't love God and material riches. That would be a bit like supporting both teams in a football match. It is interesting that Jesus speaks about serving mammon rather than 'having' possessions, because riches can enslave people. It isn't a matter of just having wealth.

There was a wealthy man, a landowner who owned a mansion overlooking a beautiful valley. But despite his wealth, he was deeply dissatisfied with life: he was possessed by his possessions. 

In the gate lodge at the entrance to his estate lived John, his farm manager. John was a man of simple faith; he was a regular church-goer and often the landowner would notice John's family on their knees in prayer at night. 

One morning the wealthy man was gazing out over the beautiful valley saying to himself, 'It is all mine' when John came to see him: 'Sir,' said John hesitantly, 'last night I had a dream, and in it the Lord told me that the richest man in the valley would die tonight at midnight. I felt you should know'. 

The landowner dismissed him, but John's words kept bothering him, so much so that he took out his car and went to the local doctor for a complete check-up. He was in good health, said the doctor, nothing to be worried about. When he came back it was past midnight and he was still very much alive.

 'Silly old John…upset my whole day…him and his dreams!' Passing by the gate lodge he saw John's daughter in tears. 

'Sir,' she said, 'Daddy died at midnight.' 

The landowner froze as it was suddenly made clear to him who was the richest man in the valley…

Our Lord once talked to St. Thomas Aquinas from a Crucifix and said, "You have spoken well of me, Thomas, what should be your reward?." To which St Thomas replied, "Nil nisi te, Domine." (Nothing but you, O Lord.)

Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, may I always remember that my wealth is the Real Presence of Your Son in the Eucharist: Jesus alone is enough for me!
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Commentary of the day :

Saint Gregory the Great (c.540-604), Pope, Doctor of the Church
Morals on Job, 34

"No servant can serve two masters"

To want to place one's hope and trust in passing things is to want to set one's foundations in running water! Everything passes, God abides. To be attached to what is transitory is to cut oneself off from what endures. For who, carried away by the angry whirling of a rapid, can stand firm in that roiling flood? So if you want to avoid being carried away by the current then flee from all that flows away. Otherwise, the object of our love will make us end up doing exactly what we wanted to avoid. Whoever attaches himself to transitory things will surely be dragged along to wherever the things he is clinging to are drifting.

So the first thing we must do is to keep ourselves from loving material goods; the second is not to put our trust in such of those goods as are entrusted for our use and not our enjoyment. 

The soul who is attached to goods that only pass away very soon loses its own stability. The current of this present life carries off whoever it bears, and it is a foolish delusion, for whoever this current carries, to try to stand upright in it.

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