the source of greed - 18th sunday C 2013

What is the source of our greed?  What makes us greedy?  What makes us accumulate more than we can use?  What drives this insatiable feeling of never having enough?  What is it in our life that seduces us, like the farmer in the gospel, to want to build ever bigger bodegas to hoard, to amass, to grab what we can?

There is in all of us an inborn sense of insecurity, there is in all of us a natural feeling of inadequacy.  The sense of insecurity and the feeling of inadequacy are not bad in themselves.  It is because of our sense of insecurity that we have learned to value community, we value working together, cooperating with each other.  It is in our feeling of inadequacy that we learn to value relationships, family, and friendships.  It is because of this feeling of inadequacy that we learn to seek help and to help one another, it is because of this that we develop concern, where we learn to empathize, and it is even because of this that we develop a prayer life – a dependence in God.  In other words our inadequacy, our insecurity makes us value those things which make us truly human and even Godly and Christian.

But these can also become the source of our greed.  It is a source of greed when we rely solely on material things to fill in our inadequacy.  It can become a source of greed when we rely solely on material things and possessions to answer our insecurities.

The Lord calls us to an abundant life – to have life to the full, to live life to the full.  But this is not about money, it is about relationships.

The Lord calls us to an abundant life – to have life to the full, to live life to the full.    But this is not about accumulating, it is about sharing, it is about generosity, it is about outdoing each other in love.

The Lord calls us to an abundant life – to have life to the full, to live life to the full.  But this is not about material things that are here today and gone tomorrow, that moths and rust consume, it is about the spirit, it about values that last, it is about God.

The Lord calls us to an abundant life – to have life to the full, to live life to the full.  But this is not about what we own, it is about rather who owns us, that we are God’s and we are his because of what Jesus did for all of us on the cross.

This parable of Jesus is more than just a simple advice on happiness.  It is an affirmation that we are more than what we possess.  It is an affirmation that we are human persons, that we are spiritual beings, that we are sons and daughters of God and that there is something in us that will outlast this world and the things of this world.

In the end we will always feel inadequate, we are always in constant need, we will always have with us a sense of insecurity which only God can fill, which only the values of God can satisfy.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. John Marie Vianney, the patron of all priests. He is patron of priests, model for priests because in his lifetime he did what needs to be done so that people can see that only God can truly make us happy, only God can answer our insecurities, only God can fill up our sense of inadequacy.   

He would show this in his life and in his lifestyle.  John Vianney would sit it out in the confessional for more than 8 hours at times so that he can heal relationships destroyed by sin.  John Vianney would labor day in and day out in his parish leading people to prayer, teaching them about the faith. 

Today let us pray that you will look up to this holy priest and make him your inspiration to become an instrument in leading men and women to happiness and contentment in God.