Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 4, 2019: Rich in what matters to God...

Rich in what matters to God…

What do you value most?

  Vanity of vanities!  All things are vanity!  The Book of Ecclesiastes is mostly a downer.  Its author Qoheleth spends a great deal of time reminding people that, in the end, whatever they have worked for in this life will prove worthless.  Achievements, success, possessions, even wisdom if acquired only to impress others is ultimately of little use. So why bother?  A bit further on, however, Qoheleth will also note that God has placed the eternal within each of us – and only this eternal is (by definition) of lasting value.  Only the eternal love of God offers us security beyond the tangible; only a life lived in relationship with God, for the sake of God, can offer us the wisdom of heart of which Psalm 90 speaks.  Such wisdom allows us to number our days aright, to let our hearts expand, to see as God sees.  God is a power beyond our comprehension, a power at work in our lives, extraordinary, not because we have earned it but because God loves us – if only we keep our hearts open, not hardened, receptive to the gifts of the Lord.

  In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus shares essentially the same message with the crowds gathered to hear him preach.  Both the man who demands his inheritance from a greedy brother and the man who wants a bigger barn to store his harvest have missed the point:  they may covet earthly treasure but they are not rich in what matters to God.  Paul will be clear on this point to the Colossians:  seek what is above, he tells them, for your life is hidden with Christ in God.  We were baptized into a life where self-focus has no place; we are given a new garment, Christ himself, to put on. But if we don’t live from it as a new identity, then it is merely veneer; it doesn’t define who we are or what we value.  Ultimately, Christianity calls us to value the eternal, an eternal expressed imperfectly in this life in the connections we make with each other, in the gifts we share with our community, in the love that is Christ alive among us, with us – only that love lasts forever; only that love is worth living until we know perfect love, perfect union, in heaven.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, July 31, 2016: Rich in what matters to God...

  Are you rich in what matters to God?  

   Even in Old Testament times, it seems, humankind struggled to discern what was of value in life.  The Book of Ecclesiastes, situated within the tradition of wisdom literature, exhorts readers to avoid the emptiness of excessive labor and the anxiety such overworking can cause in order to prevent the sin of vanity:  For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?  It is God, not the idol of work, that should occupy the human mind; without God, Psalm 90 reminds us, human life is a transitory and pitiable mess:  Return, O Lord! the psalmist sings. His request for a renewed relationship with God includes an acknowledgement of the fallibility of human judgment:  Teach us to number our days aright, he asks the Lord, so that his community might best appreciate the fullness of covenant with God:  Prosper the work of our hands!

   In Luke's Gospel, Jesus likewise encourages the crowds to focus on God rather than on the transitory, material possessions of this world.  His parable of the rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest, only to lose his life before he could make use of it, underscores the idea that worldly treasure is nothing when compared to the riches that matter to God.  Similarly, Paul encourages the Colossians to think of what is above, not of what is on earth, for their lives are hidden with Christ in God.  In baptism, they have put on the new self, in the image of its creator; it is a life in God, with God, that allows us to embrace holy indifference to the material rather than the vanity of property of which Qoheleth speaks.  Ultimately, it is our commitment to God’s creation as stewards, rather than as possessive masters, that will make us rich in what matters to God, and that will allow us truly to appreciate God’s kindness and gracious care. 

This post is based on OLMC's Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle