I have always been enthralled by our first reading which is from the book of Ecclesiastes; All things are vanity! The reading describes so perfectly the plight of the human condition of arrogance and vanity that cause each of us so much unrest and pain in this life. All the things we seem to think we need to worry about are put into perspective if we really meditate on this reading and take home its message. Our toils, anxieties, griefs, sleepless nights, and worry filled days are all pathetically insignificant if we look at them through the lenses of true faith because God has already figured out how to deal with our needs. Our Lord did not create us to spend so much of our time pondering these things, we were in fact created to spend far more of our time pondering the questions of true existence with Him, and how to take our place in His kingdom. The rest should simply be the trivial side items of our lives, and not the primary focus.
Each of us was created to be part of God’s plan, and we have been in His mind and heart since the foundation of the world, all with the divine purpose of our salvation being fulfilled, and to accomplish His priorities in our time on this earth. To die to our earthly desires, and to put on our new selves which are fashioned in the image of the Creator. To pursue truth, generosity, love, and the well-being of one another rather than self-gratification. To become an unhindered member of the body of Christ that is already beginning a form of detachment from this world in anticipation of embracing the next. This is not some farfetched philosophy; it is practicable each day. It does in fact take quite a bit of practice for most of us, and as part of that, it requires help through the reception of grace requested in prayer. If we begin with praying for awareness of the needs of those around us, and to receive generosity of heart as a foundational spiritual gift that will allow us to put others first, we are well equipped to begin our transformation. This does not come all at once, there is no magic switch that is tripped. It comes through humble discipline and at times struggle, but this is the proper nature of this world’s existence. We live in a classroom of sorts, and this is part of the lessons to be taught.
In our Gospel today, our Lord makes truly clear what should be a priority in our lives, by illustrating what is not, and the consequences of those pursuits. He tells us specifically “To take care against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions”. This does not mean we cannot have any possessions; it simply means that this is not to be our primary focus. As we work to maintain ourselves and our families, there is nothing wrong with yielding the fruits of that labor, it is when we lose sight of our focus on God’s plan because we are blinded by selfish desire that we are in danger. The rich man in the parable whose land produced a bountiful harvest was concerned only with his own comfort, and he tells us this through his self-dialogue; there is not a thought given to others who are in need and could benefit from his surplus of newfound wealth. He is rich in possessions, but truly poor in spirit.
Our Lord reveals to him his fate and the futility of all his labor because it will be going to others in the end anyway. This is the message – the only true wealth exists in what will stay with us even when we have left this world. In what the hearts of others hold when they remember us, and in what our Lord knows of our own heart.
The Deacons Bench 