Sunday Homilies by Fr. Rudolf V. D’ Souza

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18^th Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 5, 2007 - Year: C
Ecc 1:2; 2:21-23; Col. 3:1-5, 9-11; Lk 12:13-21
Life does not mean abundance of possessions

First Reading...
"Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity." [Ecc. 1:2; 2:21-23]

Second Reading...
"So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly, fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.

In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all." [Col. 3:1-5, 9-11]

Gospel Reading...
"Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.' But Jesus said to him, 'Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?'

And Jesus said to the crowd, 'Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possession.'

Then Jesus told them a parable: 'The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, 'I will do this; I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.'

But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.'" [Lk. 12:13-21]

Helpful Event:
One day a father and his rich family took his son to a trip to the country with the firm purpose to show him how poor people can be. They spent a day and a night in the farm of a very poor family.

When they got back from their trip the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"Very good Dad!"

"Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked.

"Yeah!"

"And what did you learn?"

The son answered, "I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden, they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lamps in the garden, they have the stars. Our patio reaches to the front yard, they have a whole horizon."

When the little boy was finishing, his father was speechless. His son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are!"

Isn't it true that it all depends on the way you look at things? If you have love, friends, family, health, good humor and a positive attitude towards life-you've got everything!

You can't buy any of these things, but still you can have all the material possessions you can imagine, provisions for the future, etc., but if you are poor of spirit, you have nothing!

Today there is tremendous economic boom in our country. Neighbouring countries are envious of us. Even the strong economic countries envy us because of our manpower, our brains, our human resources, natural resources etc. But, what should be really the target of all these developments? Helping one another to be fully human beings should be our task. What has happened through all these developments? Rich people have become richer and poor have become poorer. The gap has enormously widened. There are millions languishing in misery and poverty and the rich spend millions without conscience and prick of any sort.

"And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God." [Lk. 12:20-1] Today's Reading from the Gospel of Luke teaches us that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. A rich and meaningful life cannot be drawn out of an abundance of material possessions.

Jesus is absolutely not against riches, but he invites all of us for sharing of the resources. The whole Bible speaks of sharing.

On this date, throughout the world, there will be a variety of reactions towards today's Gospel Reading. For some, the reading shall come as a shock. For they believe that all what counts in their lives is the accumulation of their assets, their houses, their properties, their financial investments, their cars, their cottages, their boats, etc...

Some will be deeply touched. They will perceive a calling. Consequently, they will sell at least a part of their possessions and share the proceeds with the poor.

And some, among the extremely rich, to enjoy their wealth at a later time, they will have their bodies frozen immediately following their deaths in the hope of being resurrected at a later time when a cure can be found for their ills.

Others will certainly find exciting programmes that can take them to the bottom of the sea for an experience of the ruins of TITANIC that costs more than 16,000 US dollars.

A few will also venture into a trip to space, as some have done it, paying millions of dollars. Recently France has proposed a new aviation feat that will take people to space for a considerable amount of money. Around 20,000 people have signed for this trip to space.

Some, after the celebration of the Holy Mass, will go home and start working on their Last Will. They will attempt to determine to whom their wealth should be distributed, sorting the wise from the fools. Then they will hope that after their death, their wish will be carried out, no one challenging their Last Will in a Court of Law.

For others, the Word of God entered one ear and went out the other one. They failed to perceive the spiritual wisdom of God in the reading. They will certainly make judgments about the neighbour who has become rich so suddenly and they will also bracket a few of their own relatives and conclude that this Gospel is only for such people.

Considering all of these different reactions, it is obvious that possessions, although they are transient, worthless and empty, have a strange influence on the human mind.

The author of the Book of Ecclesiastes questions the attitude of a mortal about the intentions behind all wealth, toil and strain one endures under the sun, and at death can man take everything for oneself? [Ecc. 2:21-23] These people did not work for all that wealth that they inherit. That is "vanity" in the sense of "worthlessness." What good is something if we cannot enjoy it? It is no different then the rich man who build large barns to store all his grain and his goods, in the hope of relaxing, eating, drinking and being merry. Then, on that very night, his life was demanded of him. [Lk 12:18-9]

Borivili Building Collapse:
In the second week of July (2007) this year a huge building at Mumbai city collapsed. Most of these flats were owned by rich people. As the rescue operation was on, thousands of people flocked and took away all the wealth that was found under the rubble. It is also said that in some areas of this collapsed building people found stacks of currency worth lakhs of rupees were simply taken away by unknown people. Whose money is this? And who is going to enjoy now?

'The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, 'I will do this; I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.'

God gives us abundantly not just for our own use, but he gives us so that we may learn to be like him. But selfishness enters into our mind and heart and we use the resources or we think of using them for ourselves.

Application to Daily Life
Recall the kind of feeling you have when someone praises you when you are approved, accepted, applauded. And contrast that with the kind of feeling that arises within you when you look at the sunset or the sunrise, or Nature in general or when you read a book or watch a movie that you thoroughly enjoy. Get the taste of this feeling and contrast it with the first, namely, the one that was generated within you when you were praised. Understand that the first type of feeling comes from self-glorification, self- promotion. It is a worldly feeling. The second comes from self-fulfillment, a soul feeling.

Here is another contrast: Recall the kind of feeling you have when you succeed, when you have made it, when you get to the top, when you win a game or a bet or an argument. And contrast it with the kind of feeling you get when you really enjoy the job you are doing, you are absorbed in the action that you are currently engaged in. And once again notice the qualitative difference between the worldly feeding and the soul feeling.

Yet another contrast: Remember what you felt like when you had power, you were the boss, people looked up to you, took orders from you: or when you were popular. And contrast that worldly feeling with the feeling of Intimacy, companionship — the times you thoroughly enjoyed yourself in the company of a friend or with a group in which there was fun and laughter.

Having done this, attempt to understand the true nature of worldly feelings, namely, the feelings of self-promotion, self-glorification. They are not natural, they were invented by your society and your culture to make you productive and to make you controllable. These feelings do not produce the nourishment and happiness that is produced when one contemplates Nature or enjoys the company of one's friends or one's work. They were meant to produce thrills, excitement — and emptiness.

Personal Application:
Then observe yourself in the course of a day or a week and think how many actions of yours are performed, how many activities engaged in that are uncontaminated by the desire for these thrills, these excitements that only produce emptiness, the desire for attention, approval, fame, popularity, success or power. And take a look at the people around you. Is there a single one of them who has not become addicted to these worldly feelings? A single one who is not controlled by them, hungers for them, spends every minute of his/her waking life consciously or unconsciously seeking them? When you see this you will understand how people attempt to gain the world and, In the process, lose their soul. For they live empty, soul-less lives.

The Final Shot:
On the very first day, God created the cow. He said to the cow, "Today I have created you! As a cow, you must go to the field with the farmer all day long. You will work all day under the sun! I will give you a life span of 50 years."

The cow objected, "What? This kind of a tough life you want me to live for 50 years? Let me have 20 years, and the 30 years I’ll give back to you." So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the dog. God said to the dog, "You are supposed to do is to sit all day by the door of your house. Any people that come in, you will have to bark at them! I’ll give a life span of 20 years."

The dog objected, "What? All day long to sit by the door? No way! I give you back my other 10 years of life!" So God agreed.

On the third day, God created the monkey. He said to the monkey, "Monkeys have to entertain people. You’ve got to make them laugh and do monkey tricks. I’ll give you 20 years life span."

The monkey objected. "What? Make them laugh? Do monkey faces and tricks? Ten years will do, and the other 10 years I’ll give you back." So God agreed.

On the fourth day, God created man and said to him, "Your job is to sleep, eat, and play. You will enjoy very much in your life. All you need to do is to enjoy and do nothing. This kind of life, I’ll give you a 20 year life span."

The man objected. "What? Such a good life! Eat, play, sleep, do nothing? Enjoy the best and you expect me to live only for 20 years? No way, man!… Why don’t we make a deal? Since the cow gave you back 30 years, and the dog gave you back 10 years and the monkey gave you back 10 years, I will take them from you! That makes my life span 70 years, right?" So God agreed.

And that is why… In our first 20 years, we eat, sleep, play, enjoy the best and do nothing much. For the next 30 years, we work all day long, suffer and get to support the family. For the next 10 years, we entertain our grandchildren by making monkey faces and monkey tricks. And for the last 10 years, we stay at home, sit by the front door and bark at people!

'Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possession.'

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