18th ORDINARY SUNDAY OF THE YEAR C

Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23 Col 3:1-5, 9-11 Lk 12:13-21

The Gospel this Sunday speaks of the right attitude towards possessions. Jesus tells that life doesnot consist of material possessions. He points out very clearly this simple truth in the parable ofthe rich fool. He says that every earthly pleasure and possession of life is vanity.

Vanity is well illustrated by Aesop’s fable of the fox and the crow. The crow flew to a tree with astolen piece of meat in her beak. A fox, who saw her, wanted the meat, so he looked up into the tree and said, “How beautiful you are, my friend! Your feathers are fairer than the dove’s. Is your voice as beautiful? If so, you must be the queen of birds.” The crow was so happy in his praise that she opened her mouth to show how she could sing. Down fell the piece of meat. The fox seized upon it and ran away. What a pity? Due to vanity, the praise of being beautiful, kept her physically hungry. The temporary praise of beauty made her to loose her wealth, the meat.

My dear people, we too are full of vanities which are short lived. One day we all have to leave everything behind. Our possession, prestige and power will not give us eternal life. We should know that as soon as we die, our identity becomes a "Body". People use phrases like "Bring the Body", "Lower the Body in the Grave", "Take the Body to the Graveyard" etc. People don't even call us by our Name. Whom are we trying to impress in life. Let us stop boasting and swallow our pride! Let us stop looking down on others and remember that:

Our job is equal to vanity!

Our money = vanity!

Our house = vanity!

Our Cars = vanity!

Our education = vanity!

Our beauty = vanity!

Our riches = vanity!

Our Degrees and certificates = vanity!

Our IPhone = Vanity!

Let us live a life to impress the Creator not the Creation!

The man in today's gospel had the wrong priorities, busy impressing creation. He never saw anything beyond creation, beyond himself and beyond this world. His whole basis of security was wealth. He was not at all interested impressing creator who has blessed him with abundance of harvest. There is no indication also that he gave thought to the needs of others or that he thanked God for His blessing. While there is nothing wrong with the man’s rejoicing in his cropor building to make storage, there is something wrong with the fact that his attention was solely on himself. His mistake is to think that the soul can be satisfied with material goods. This man has sought to secure his future   without reference to God. He has not reckoned on his answerability to God for his life.

God criticizes the man for adopting such philosophy. He calls him, ‘fool’. He made his planswithout taking into account God’s plans. Therefore   he is described as a fool. He did not understand the situation. He did not come to grips with the facts of life. He had come to grips with only one aspect of life, i.e., the material life. But he had over looked an entire area of human existence, namely the spiritual aspect of it. Surely all of us have met people like this man in Jesus’ story. Sometimes, sadly, he is ourselves.

An anonymous author wrote: First I was dying to finish high school and started college. And then I was dying to finish college and start working. And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough for school, so Icould return to work. And then I was dying to retire. And now I am dying and suddenly I realize, I forgot to live.

Jesus concludes the parable with an application. He tells us that this is the fate of all those who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich toward God. If you want to be rich, understand that the right way of being rich is to be rich toward God. How is one rich toward God? To be rich towards God means, to be rich in good deeds, quick to share, quick to part with their assets for kingdom causes, and in doing so they lay up treasures in heaven. They become rich toward God. We are not to define ourselves by our  salary, by our material possessions, or by our

accomplishments on earth. There is more to life than the accumulation of possessions. What one has accumulated, he has to leave behind. No matter how wide one’s lands are, at the end he would lie on a narrow piece of soil. We cannot bring along even a single nail from our coffin.

Remember, there are no pockets in a shroud. If ever we have accumulated knowledge it is best left behind as wisdom for those whom we have counseled and mentored. What we have are to be shared.

Let us set our mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Let us put to death what is earthly in us : immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness and put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience. That is all God desires from us and not the earthly possessions, prestige and power.

17th Ordinary Sunday of the Year C

There was a stone cutter who uses to cut blocks of stone from the foot of a mountain.  One day he saw a well-dressed prince in a procession.  He envied the prince and wished that he could have that kind of wealth. The Great Spirit heard his wish, and he was made a prince. He was very happy with his silk clothes and his powerful armies until he saw the sun fade the flowers in his royal garden.  He wished for such power as the sun had, and his wish was again granted.  He became the sun, with power to parch fields and humble people with thirst. This stone cutter was still not happy to be the sun until a cloud covered him and obscured his powerful heat.  With that, he had another wish to be the cloud, and the Spirit granted his wish. Thereafter he was a cloud with the power to destroy the land with floods and storms. Stone cutter was very happy until he saw the mountain remain in spite of his storm.  So he demanded to be the mountain.  The Spirit obeyed and he became the mountain and was more powerful than the prince, the sun, or the cloud.  And he was happy until he felt a chisel chipping at his feet.  It was another stone cutter working away – cutting blocks to sell to make his daily living.

How many of us know people who are unable to relax and are unable to find satisfaction for more than a few moments at a time? There are people who are constantly seeking. They work or they play, they build or they drink, they join clubs and societies or they party, hoping to find in these activities some kind of peace, some kind of inner quiet, some kind of satisfaction.  And yet, despite all they continue to hunger and thirst for inner peace,

My dear people, what are we looking for that will make us happy? Or that will set our soul at rest? The stone cutter was never happy even though all his wishes were granted by the Great Spirit.  Nor the people of Israel were happy after they were led by God out of bondage in Egypt. They demanded water at Marah, and was given sweet water what was once bitter. They demanded bread and meat in the wilderness of Sin, complaining to Moses and Aaron that God had brought them out of the security of their bondage in Egypt only to kill them with hunger, and manna and meat was provided for each for each day. Yet within a few days the people were complaining again to Moses and Aaron, complaining that God was trying to kill them, their children and their cattle. What were they looking for?

They prayed and God answered them. They complained, and God responded. Their wishes were granted - yet they were still unsatisfied. My dear people, what is it that we desire? Is it that which will allow us to “let go”? That which will allow us to trust?  That which help us to face life with all its uncertainties? Or do we seek that, which will only lead us to want more?  Do we seek the things of God or things of this world?

There are things that we pray for and do not get. There are things we do not pray for but which God is most willing to give. We pray for material gifts, whereas God wants to give us life. We pray for things outside ourselves which we think can make us happy for some moments but He is thinking of happiness from within which lasts. We pray for success that will allow us to lord it over others but He thinks of a purifying experience that will make us humbly say to Him, “Forgive us our sins” so that we, too, may “forgive those who sin against us” thus effecting reconciliation with God and others.

In prayer, it is not God who should change but we. God is not made in our image and likeness; we are to His. He should therefore be the one to shape us. In prayers of petition, perseverance is most important. He tells us to continue knocking even when the door is bolted. Perhaps it is our heart’s doors that need to be opened since the problem may lie in us, i.e., our lack of faith. For with faith, we will discover that it is not really we but God who knocks at our door and He is just waiting to be let in so that He may fill us with Himself.

What Jesus seems to be suggesting to us is that we ask, seek and knock in our prayers with all our might with deep faith in Him; with persistence that our prayers be for right relationships with God and with others - for it is there we meet the Spirit. Because Jesus believes in God as a loving Father, he believes we should relate to him and talk to Him as loving Father. Let us make a firm resolution today, beginning with this Mass, to recite always the Lord's Prayers slowly, reflectively, with meaning, love and trust. Amen.