Homily: Monday 29th week in Ordinary Time

I've posted a video of this homily below. It was preached  a couple of weeks ago, on Monday of the 29th week in Ordinary Time, but I just realized I had the video. The complete text follows the video.

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Readings: Romans 4:20-25; Luke 1:69-75; Luke 12:13-21

Some years ago, I read these words. I don’t recall who wrote them, but I jotted them down. Today’s Gospel brought them to mind.

First, I was dying to finish high school and start college.

Then I was dying to finish college and start working.

Then I was dying for my children to grow old enough to go away to college

Then I was dying to retire.

And now I’m dying…

and suddenly I realize that I forgot to live.

The man Jesus describes is much like that, isn't he? He's the kind of person many admire, regardless of the time and place, but he’s also a man who forgot to live. That he was seen as successful was due largely to his obvious wealth. He worked hard, planned for the future, invested well, and seemingly secured himself a comfortable retirement. But from a Christian perspective, his life was a mess, driven by seriously misplaced priorities. 

First, he never saw beyond himself. His plan of life was a constant repetition of “I” and “my”. “I”, the shortest word in the English language, and requires just one stroke of the pen, perhaps an indication of its relative importance. Secondly, he refused to see beyond this world, and based his security entirely on his wealth.

The world hasn’t really changed much, has it? For many today, no less than it was for the rich fool of the Gospel, the driving force is to build better and bigger barns, to create increasingly more personal wealth.

Now wealth, in itself, isn’t an evil. But when it’s misused…when it’s seen as an end in itself and not a means to help others…when it’s unjustly accumulated at the expense of others…when greed and envy become the guiding forces in its acquisition…then it leads to evil.

During my years in corporate America I encountered more than a few men and women very much like the rich man in the Gospel. Indeed, Jesus’ message is nothing new. Greed and avarice will always be with us. So too will those who let their wealth and their property own them.

The psychology of possession is full of paradoxes. Those driven by greed to collect riches end up proving how poor they are. For them, no amount of wealth is sufficient, for no amount ever brings true happiness. How sad for them. They devote their lives to adding zeroes to their net worth – so much work for just another zero!

Remember, too, Jesus preached this parable to people who were far from rich, even by the standards of their day. But one doesn’t have to be rich to be greedy. Greed and meanness are among the most common of human failings and aren’t confined to the wealthy. We can all succumb in our struggle to earn our daily bread. The only difference between the greedy rich man and the greedy poor man is that the former succeeded in turning his greed into wealth. But in their greed, both behave as if they will live forever.

When the man in the Gospel unexpectedly encounters death, his true poverty is exposed. Suddenly, his wealth means nothing, its value eclipsed by the person he had become.

Those whom the world sees as successful can be abject failures in the deepest sense because they try to live without God’s sustaining power. Jesus is warning us against going it alone, trying to hold the future in our own hands, of focusing only on our possessions and life’s comforts, of wasting our time on that which doesn’t last.

We need the humility to recognize that our planning may be futile, and the courage to trust that the Good Shepherd continues to lead and guide us along paths we cannot wholly anticipate, let alone understand.

Self-sufficiency is one of the great myths of our time. Just as “with God, nothing is impossible,” so too without Him, nothing lasting is possible. There’s a hunger today for more than bread, more than possessions. We are created as spiritual beings and the only truly satisfying nourishment – God’s word poured into our hearts -- comes to us from the one who is pure spirit. 

Let’s pray that we strive always to seek God’s will for us

…that we will not arrive at the end of our lives having forgotten to live

...and that we may live well so we won’t be afraid to die.