Reflection for July 31, 2022

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23 | Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17 | Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11 | Luke 12:13-21

​Greed leaves no room in our hearts for Jesus to dwell in. God takes up his dwelling among us only when we are poor in spirit, emptied and detached from all that prevents Him from filling us with himself. On this Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time let us together reflect on simplicity in life as a means to the indwelling of God.  

​In the effort to get what we want, we frequently lose what we have. A dog was carrying a bone as he crossed a bridge. He looked into the water and saw his own reflection. He took this to be another dog and another bone. He desperately wanted the other bone so he dropped the one he had to scare the “other dog.” Of course there was no other bone and he lost the one he had into the water. 

Today's first reading was written by a sage presented in the image of the wise King Solomon, who had spent much time reflecting on human life. He remarks that life sometimes seems meaningless as people focus on their possessions and seek to get more. We spend our life time accumulating wealth and possessions, just to leave them behind to others when we die. If all there is to life is material things and amassing fortune which will not travel along with us when we leave this earthly life, then life is truly meaningless. All that is, everything we experience in this life is a puff of smoke, a chasing after of the wind. Our most precious commodities are not our smartphones, 3D TVs, brand new cars, or even our big and impressive houses. Our most precious commodities can’t be found at the bank. They can’t be ordered online via Shopee or Lazada. The author observes that one pervasive human vanity is the inability to enjoy those things we earn. We have only the present moment — and that moment is a gift from God. 

During the launch of "Mass of the Pierced Heart" Last December, I was asked by a friend why I choose to write songs for the Holy Mass when I “get nothing out of it.” She said that if I write music commercial jingles or compose pop songs, I could become a hitmaker and make more money that I will ever make with all of my churchy songs combined. I said, “Maybe so. With the prayers, the songs, the silence, and the honest conversations about faith and life, I feel rich in every way. I have everything I need. And I have one thing those hitmakers will never have.” My friend was skeptical. “Oh yeah, what?” I said, “Enough.”

In his letter to the Colossians, the apostle Paul warns against excessive attachment to material possessions. He singles out greed in his list of “earthly” things that keep us from fully embracing our new life in Christ, with whom we have been “raised up.”  An unbridled quest for wealth that draws us away from allegiance from God. We are to imitate the image which Jesus has presented to us during His earthly life by seeking what is above, not what is merely earthly. The earthly things focus on the self – self-pleasure, self-rewards, self-worship, whereas the heavenly things focus on service of God and others.

You can't take money with you. Once there was a man named Miguel who earned a very good living, but refused to spend the money on anything. When he was dying, he said to Ramona, his wife, "I want you to promise me one thing. Promise me that when I’m dead you’ll take my money and put it in my casket so that I can take it all with me." Amazingly, Ramona agreed to do as she was asked. After Miguel died, her friend saw Ramona put something into the casket and asked what she put in there. She told her friend, her husbands request, and how she agreed to it. Her friend, filled with shock, couldn’t believe this woman would do this. The friend asked how she would live, and she replied, ’well, I promised him, and a promise is a promise. But, I should be able to live comfortably, unless he finds a way to cash a check in heaven!

Today's Gospel, joins together sayings contrasting those whose focus and trust in life is on material possessions with those who recognize their complete dependence on God. According to Deuteronomy 21:17 the elder receives double the younger's share. In today's passage, a younger brother was claiming that he was being defrauded of his share of inheritance. Jesus did a quick root cause analysis and gave stern warning against greed. Greed is the desire to have more than one actually has. It not only leads to bitter disagreement; it also expresses a wrong attitude to life that possessions are all that really matter. Greed can foster an unhealthy obsession with money, investments, homes, cars, jewelry, or other kinds of possessions, much like the landowner who built bigger barns to hoard his grain and goods. Did you notice the pronouns in this passage? The landowner speaks only of I/me/my, and never of we/us/our. Wealth is of course not an evil in itself. Jesus finds fault not with his success, but with his desire to hold on to wealth without regard for others — without seeing himself as part of a larger human family. Our Gospel reminds us today that we are simply stewards of the goods received for the benefit of God’s children. God blesses us with goods in this world so we can use them in building his kingdom. It really needs for God to take away one's life and at once it becomes obvious how useless possessions can be. The wealthy fool in Jesus' parable failed to gain the true riches of a right relationship with God - one step towards which would be through helping the needy. He is a fool because in the midst of his good fortune he has lost the sense of what is truly important. <enrique,ofs>