The Eighteenth Sunday of the Year (C) “And the things you have prepared, whose will they be” Today, in this world, when we talk about having enough of anything, especially material things or possessions, what do we really mean? How much is really enough for you and I? When you say to your neighbour who has come to ask for something, ‘I do not have enough’, what do you really mean? There is a beautiful song which was sung by a Tonga man called Short Mazabuka, where he says ‘olo avwule buti mali taakwene’ translated as ‘even when there is a lot of money, it is not enough. There is always a certain hunger for more, and it seems nothing here on earth can satisfy us. St Augustine once said, “Our hearts are restless till they rest in God”. St Paul, in the second reading, is right then, when he exalts the Christians in Colossae saying, “set your minds on things that are above where Christ is, not on things that are on earth.” The Preacher in the first reading clearly indicates that possessions do not satisfy human beings but only faith in God can provide light in our darkness. Faith can help us see beyond material possessions to their source; God. In our restless search for security and happiness, we tend to forget about God and the eternal life he promises us. Life for some people is simply about running after things, about accumulating possessions which have to be left behind anyway after the end of this earthly life. Desire for more and more things breeds greed, corruption and destruction of relationships. Sometimes, in churches and parishes, issues about money tend to replace the word of God, thereby turning them into small business places. In the Church, thus, all material possessions including money are for use in evangelisation and not evangelisation for use in generating money. What makes us rich in the sight of God is not what we own or what we have done but what we are. Here, we must understand that it is not possessions that are sinful but possessiveness and greed. Possessing things without a generous heart is sinful. Actually, selfishness is a cause of much suffering and poverty for most people in Zambia. Those who are rich and have enough do not know when something is enough and must be shared with those who do not have. When is enough really enough for you? Faith in God can help us know when something is enough. And true faith in God will always lead to love and love will always lead to service of neighbour. Faith makes it possible for one to give. Without faith it is impossible to give with a generous heart. We can say, therefore, that the best wealth one can leave for others after death is wisdom and the best they can take with them after death is a generous and faithful heart. St Exupery once said, “When your last hour strikes, count only on what you have become” and not what you have accumulated. Blessed, therefore is the hand that gives than the one that receives. AMEN
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 21:15:48 +0000
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