Ordinary 18

The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23; Psalm 90; Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21

Where do you find meaning for your life? What is the reason you get up each morning and face the day? What do you value in life?

Not sure? At the service of what or whom [which could be yourself], do you place your time, money and attention? Or, are we ashamed to admit, even to ourselves, what we really value? Which in itself raises the question as to the value God puts on what we value.

Our culture abhors feelings of shame and guilt. Such feelings are probably why most people don’t pray the Sacrament of Confession or when they do keep the sins at surface level and never go to the heart of their choices. Yet feelings of guilt and shame are a part of conscience. They can be ‘red flags’ to cause us to reconsider choices. Recall the garden scene when Adam and Eve are ashamed and hidden. Why? They knew their choice didn’t resonant with God’s desire for them. They chose the value of power rather than the value of obedience to another person.

Do our values resonant with God? Are we rich in what matters to God? But, what does matter to God? Luke doesn’t say.

What do you think matters to God? Are you and I sure our answer is correct? What I often hear are simplistic answers that fit neatly on a bumper sticker or T-Shirt and then we can walk away because we have God in our back pocket without really reflecting on our lives, values, and choices.

So, what does God value?

Luke’s Jesus can come off as very harsh against people who are materially wealthy. Is that true or is Jesus aware that possessions can so easily become an obstacle for us to see and address the needs of other people around us, to our own spiritual life, and ultimately to what matters to God?

Possessions are morally neutral. Though you could argue they are good in themselves. The question is; what is our relationship to possessions, and its daughters: power and position. Are we possessed by our possessions and cravings or do we understand that our possessions are gifts of God – for the benefit of others. That’s the dilemma of the rich man in today’s Gospel and our own spiritual dilemma.

Possessions. Possession. To possess. To be possessed. I find it interesting that talk of the devil, diabolical possession, and exorcisms rise in the Church and play to audiences in the media and movies whenever we do not deal with the real issues of personal and social sin. It is easier to place evil outside of ourselves rather than deal with the real demons within us; our desires, lusts, and cravings. Or as Paul puts it: the parts of us that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, and the greed that is idolatry. In the light of the hidden web use of pornography and what has become the acceptable use of sexual activity outside of marriage, even by Christians and within Christian families, Paul’s words all have a sexual connotation. The possession and misuse of a person in images or in reality is no less a distortion of what God values, is it not? In the light of the Incarnation, of God becoming a human being, such possession of a human being may be the darkest form of idolatry.

Remember whenever we possess without concern for others than we can be assured we are possessed. And isn’t that ultimately the sin of a lack of trust in God to care for us?

The heart is never content with present things and is always longing for more. It is an insatiable hunger that devours us. Would that we would long for God as much as we do for material goods, position and power. And I am not talking about the Elon Musks, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffets and Bill Gates’ of this world. I am talking about you and me in our petty desires and power plays.

One blessing that may be coming out of the pandemic is not what is being called the ‘great retirement’ or the rethinking of how people want to participate in the workforce but rather people may have learned to live simpler. Some people discovered or rediscovered activities during lockdown that gave them a renewed meaning in their lives.  

So, where do you find meaning for your life and does it matter to God?