Alberic Jacovone OSB
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YEAR C
EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY - 1.8.04
Eccl 1,2.2,21-23; Col 3,1-5.9-11; Lk 12,13-21
Go for life.... do not waste it
Be
rich in the sight of God
One
of the major themes of Luke’s Gospel is his warning against greed and the
worry it brings, against ambition, acquisition of material wealth and money.
Of course we know that it’s quite OK to desire, aspire and acquire good
and valuable things and it’s OK to aim for a better quality of life; but it is
also important to realise that material comfort and security may drive us away
from other far more valuable responsibilities.
Today
we are invited to reflect on the attitudes we need to cultivate to be ‘rich in
the sight of God’, and use wisely of our possessions and material goods,
knowing that any excess we accumulate must be shared with those who have not
enough.
Today’s
Gospel invites us to be free of greed, ambition and all sorts of worry,
remaining fully aware that this lesson will never be easy to learn and live out;
and that our affluent society will always expect us to adopt its lust for power
and wealth and to be fully engaged in the race ‘from rags to riches’.
It’s not a matter of condemning avarice and the lure of wealth, it’s
an imperative that urges us to go for quality of life and for life itself,
knowing that life in itself is worth more than its successes, its failures or
its problems. While security and
the need to provide has its merit, it’s still more important to put first
things first, to rely not so much on what we own, as in what we are and what we
believe in.
As
we look back, we know only too well the times we have ‘played the fool’,
thinking we could store up many good things for many years, not knowing how soon
our life was being asked of us: not knowing that our worldly successes and power
could never buy love we so badly long for.
Luke urges us: What if you gain the whole world and lose your very soul
(Greek word is Psyche).
Go
for life, not for its trappings!
Luke’s
strong warning is this: whoever, wherever and whenever you are in God’s
immense universe, chose Christian life and live it to the full; do not gamble it
in games of possession and greed; fix all your energies and desires in living a
worthwhile life in God’s sight. Remember
that in themselves, wealth, power and success are good: they are God’s
blessing and a sign that God has blessed you as someone who can manage God’s
blessings for the care of those in need. However
we are foolish, when we place wealth on God’s throne and worship it as if it
were God himself. We are foolish
when we build our carer on great expectations, only to find disillusionment at
the point of their fulfilment. We
are foolish when we waste so much energy, and so much life chasing empty pipe
dreams of glory, struggles and even revenge… all we end up with is hurting
ourselves.
An
old Italian Christian dirge went like this: If I lived 100 and more - Never
touched by pain or affliction - At death row what will it be? - Vanity of
vanities. Spot the astute story
teller in Luke’s parable: in it, the Owner keeps saying: I do, I have, I
will… He is absolutely sure and convinced that he is really the Owner of huge
possessions only to find out that he is owned by his possessions.
Lesson:
discover now and not when it is too late, that life is worth more than all its
schemes: it is precious and it is short. Because
of this, do all you can to enjoy it; be in love with life (loved and beloved) -
live it as it’s truly given, as a gift, as a short-term loan from God - make
sure you chose quality of life, knowing that our human heart is too deep to be
fulfilled by greed. The Greek
contrasts the good feeling (euphoria) about the abundant produce with the good
life of deserved retirement (euphrania). In
the end the Owner is a fool (aphron), as he fails to recognize that his life
like his crop is a gift from God, to be used wisely, for the good of many.
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