“A certain rich man’s territory was successful, that is, it showed great profits, and was blessed with many crops. And he thought to himself saying, What am I to do, where am I to store my crops? And thinking hard, I have realized, he said, what I must do; I shall pull down old barns, I shall put up new ones. I shall fill them. You see, I shall make them bigger than the old ones were. And I shall say to my soul. You have many goods; take your fill, enjoy yourself. God said to him, Fool. you think you’re so very shrewd. You know indeed how to pull down old structures and build new ones; you, though, have remained in the old, worn-out ruins of yourself, where you should have been pulling down the old structures in yourself, so that you would no longer savor the things of earth.”
Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Sermon 359 (cf. Luke 12:13-21) in Sermons 341-400 (Hyde Park, NY: Augustinian Heritage Institute, 1995) 201.