1st August, 2010 Eighteenth Sunday of the Year - C
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It is great to be back after a month of annual leave, and I am grateful to Fr Pat Dowd for his tireless support in helping here in the parish and in the neighbouring parishes to ensure that the Deanery gets its sacramental needs met and the priests of the deanery can get a break…. It is becoming more and more difficult to get ‘supply priests’ for holidays or to cover for other commitments, so Fr Pat’s support is priceless….
The first reading this weekend is rather sobering and poignant… almost depressing… the writer is bemoaning the vanity and futility that goes with some of our earthly strivings…. Its not meant to bog us down, rather, but to snap us into reality…. That some of the things we spend most of our time, energy and resources on will produce limited fruits…. I can’t help thinking of news reports in recent years of financial disasters that affected many Australians … ordinary mum and dad investors who put a lot of their life savings into what looked like fruitful company investments… only to watch all they had worked for… all they were saving up for a nice retirement… evaporate…. It is absolutely unimaginable…….. the suffering and pain.. and the realisation that all that hard work and striving of their working lives has effectively vanished…. So they could be forgiven for thinking they worked all that time for nothing…… hopefully many might be able to recover from their terrible predicament….. still…. Their work over those many years did provide for them and their families… the pride and effort they put into their vocation would surely have produced enormous spiritual fruits and satisfaction… for in a vocation we don’t just work for a living….. but all our strivings we put at the service of God’s grace too………. In any case… our hearts go out to those whose toil… (if looked at from a merely financial ‘this world perspective’) appears to have been in vain……….
We reflect on all the Fruits that do not last beyond this life and which might not be worth the effort…. So, we are invited, as Paul says in the second reading, to keep our eyes on the ‘things of heaven’ – the things that last… and to avoid earthly desires….
The gospel today is very challenging…..
All the parables Jesus told are meant to be challenging and jarring…. They are meant to unsettle and turn upside down our expectations.. and this one is particularly unnerving… it seems quite sensible to plan for one’s future… to ensure against a rainy day… to save up for the future and for a comfortable life…. Many people do it… its considered wise and sensible… so… why is this man considered not sensible… but rather ‘foolish’ and he is called a fool not just by ANYONE… but by God himself…. If God calls someone a fool, then surely the worst kind of fool they must be !!!!
Jesus tells this story not to people who are foolish… neither does he tell this story to people whose lives are about to end…rather.. it’s the opposite… its to people who he hopes are sensible, open and loving people, with resources at their disposal who (God willing) have a long healthy life ahead…. And he is inviting them to trust in God’s providence and care and use their resources for the good of others… its no good to worry only about our own possible future needs, that may never come. It is good to be sensible to save for a rainy day….. but not at the expense of our commitment to others whose immediate and real needs are prevented while fear and over-protection prevents us from responding…
In the parable, “God intervenes to show the man how foolish and misguided his plans are… This does not mean that in the next life he is condemned to hell… it doesn’t suggest that at all…… rather, the point here is … the priorities we make in life….. and the meaning of life itself…… Jesus rejects the accumulation of riches for oneself because it is not in accordance with God’s will of selfless and generous loving service towards God and others…. This is so important that our priorities are encouraged to always keep this in mind….
That rich man thinks of himself, talks to himself, works for himself, stores food for himself.. its mean, its lonely.. it’s a distorted world view where he is trapped in a very selfish and isolated world of his own making….. Rather, we realise that we are in union with others around us… we are actually diminished as people if our purposes and actions do not go beyond self satisfaction….
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He lets his fear and self-focus absorb him completely…
…… In a way., we already know what a good ending to this parable would be…. The rich man has a good year.. and he is so happy.. he says to himself and those around him… this is a wonderful year, God has blessed us… quick.. tell others to come along and take some grain.. to share it.. for I want all of us to celebrate in this wonderful blessing.. so that we might all have some more .. and have a bit for a rainy day to…. Then God will come to him and say.. well done my good and faithful servant… you have made yourself rich in my sight.. enter into your inheritance… we know that God will do this because other parables of the kingdom show that kind of dynamic.. and it fills our hearts with joy….
This is how the man could make himself rich in the sight of god… may our love and service and care for others flow out in generous care and compassion to eachother… may we use our gifts for the good of all… for the greater good of God’s Kingdom…
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REFERENCES:
· FR. PAUL W. KELLY
· SHARING THE WORD THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR. GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ.
