Sometimes We Need to be Reminded

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by: holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"

Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still the hands were up in the air. Well, he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?"

Still the hands went into the air. My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make or the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you.

The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE WE ARE. As Isaiah 43:1; tells us: “But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, Jacob, and formed you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine.”

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A pithy summary of all today’s readings could be “you can’t take it with you.” The bottom line for all of us is that when we die, all the earthly things we have worked for and accumulated mean nothing. What matters in Heaven is totally different from what matters in our lives here on earth. Wealth in and of itself isn’t bad. What counts in Heaven is what we do with our wealth. Do we hoard it like the doomed rich man in today’s gospel from Luke 12:13-21? Or do we follow St Paul’s suggestion in the second reading from Colossians 3:1-5, and “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth”?

In his encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium (2013), our Holy Father Pope Francis wrote “We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a true human purpose” (56). St Paul also likened greed to idolatry in today’s reading from Colossians.

As Christians our lifelong goal should be making ourselves rich in the eyes of God. Who are the rich in the Kingdom? Once again St Paul comes to our rescue giving us guidelines for citizenship in the Kingdom. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:12-17). If we follow St Paul’s guidelines our heavenly wealth will be abundant.

Creator God,

Lord and giver of life,

how generous you are to all your creatures.

With such generosity ever before our eyes,

help us to avoid greed in all its forms,

to measure life’s worth

not by the quantity of possessions,

but by the life and love we freely place at the service of others.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

AMEN.