Sunday, July 31th, 2022 – Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C Readings: Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23, Psalm 90 “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts”, Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11, Luke 12:13-21

    In today’s gospel, the Lord takes advantage of a question about inheritances to teach us about the true worth of things in the light of eternity. “Take care to guard against greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions”. “Greed”, the inordinate or disordered attachment to worldly things. Greed can be an obstacle to true freedom.
    The rich man in the parable sought for total security and comfort in this life. We can describe him as a person of vision, he had foresight. In fact, he was a serious, and hardworking man, who did not steal from anyone. But his pursuit of security and complacency that rejected God was his problem. “Fool” is what God calls him because the person who ties himself down to the world, forgetting that his or her end is Heaven, is doomed to live a disoriented life of complete ‘idiocy’. A word, which comes from the Greek word ‘idiotes’, meaning ‘one who is alone’. This parable covers about four verses of the chapter and in these verses the words I, my and myself are used more than any other word. He does not make mention of his wife, or children, or family or friends, or workers, everything is about I, me, myself, and his crops and barns without the thought for others.
    The rich man saw himself in a very se cure position because he had acquired great resources. He based his stability and happiness on this wealth. But he didn’t know that authentic human life and happiness itself are not founded on worldly goods. St Augustine says, “Lord, you made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Worldly goods can never become an end in themselves because our destination is heaven. And if our treasure takes us away from God, this parable is a wakeup call for us. ‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be’. St Paul exhorts us in the second reading: “put to death, then the parts of us that are earthly; immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Stop lying to one another”.
    May the Lord grant to us the grace not to make a selfish use of wealth. Let us seek for security and comfort in our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless us, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. Fr. Paschal Chester, SVD.