18TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C

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CANCEL AVARICE NOW

LK 12; 13-21

 


A man grew tremendously rich through honest hard work and effort. In fact, he decided to retire at 50 since the wealth he had was enough to last him and his family for generations. But one day, he realized that his riches will not save his family from exploding, shattering and destroying itself. Too much wealth will harm, and not bless his loved ones. He decided to give everything up to the poor and to live a simple life. Today he lives a happy man! And this is a true story!!!

 

The gospel shows us the opposite picture. These are portraits of greed and avarice. The first person is so greedy he forces his brother to divide the inheritance. In fact, this may not be his real purpose. Perhaps he wants to cheat his brother of their inheritance. He craves not only for what is due to him, but for what truly belonged to another.

 

The second avaricious person has grown so rich that he wants to feel secure by surrounding himself with his riches. He accumulates more. He builds monuments to his wealth. He lives the good life without regard for his neighbors who are poor and struggling. His possessions finally possessed his heart that even God finds his attitude repulsive.

 

Greed comes to us in these two ways: one by desiring what must belong to others, and two, by being so self-satisfied that we isolate ourselves from others. While poverty is not God’s plan for his people, while becoming rich through honest effort is not contrary to the Gospel, the Lord Jesus reminds us that life is not all about money or possessions. It is not even about our own happiness alone. It is not about luxury and comfort that makes one indifferent to God and unmindful of our neighbors in need.

 

The Lord Jesus reminds us to find the key to a truly peaceful and satisfied life. How to discover this? We can be truly grateful for what we have. Instead of desiring what others have, we can enjoy and nurture what we now have. Moreover, we can be generous with our resources. Generosity has nothing to do with being rich. In fact, the more generous people, with their time, resources, energy, are simple folks like you and me. Finally, we can always cling to the truth that more is not always better. We have only one life, one mind, one heart. If we cling to so many things, we might end up having none in the end.

 

Today we live in an age of "cancel culture." We remove people or things we deem not good for us. Perhaps the Lord is asking us to cancel something truly destructive – greed! In doing so, he wants to see us free and truly happy!

 

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