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The story preceded the point of today's gospel: Don't base your life on materialism.

Three sons decided to give their elderly mother, who was 83 and suffering from poor eyesight, presents for Christmas.

Since their mother lived in a small apartment in the city, the first son decided to buy her a spacious house in the country.

The second son decided to buy her a new limousine with a chauffeur to drive her.

The third son knew that his mother was very religious and liked to read the bible, but since her eyesight was failing, he bought her an expensive parrot that could recite the whole bible.

After a while, the mother sent thank you notes to all of her sons.

To the first she wrote, thank you for the house, but it's too big to clean and I miss my friends from the neighborhood, so I'm moving back to the apartment. Feel free to reclaim the house.

To the second son, she said that since she was moving back, she wouldn't need the limousine and chauffeur, but thanks anyway.

Finally, she wrote to the third son and said, " You have given me the best gift of all, a chicken. It was delicious!"