RICH TOWARDS GOD TOO

The words of Our Blessed Lord in the gospel message this weekend speak against all covetousness. ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of one’s possessions’ (cf Lk 12:13-21). 

Beloved people of God, we need to be rich towards God too. It is necessary, no doubt, to work for material wellbeing. It is also necessary not to lose sight of our spiritual wellbeing. If and when all that one struggles for in this finite existence is only about physical and material possessions, then the words of Ecclesiastes apply. ‘Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity’ Sadly and painfully too, ‘Sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil’ (cf Eccles 1:2. 2:21-23). The letter of St Paul to the Colossians reminds us of how to maintain a healthy balance as God’s children here on earth while keeping our eyes on our pilgrimage, our journey towards Heaven. We have been raised with Christ and must seek the things that are above’ (cf Col 3:1-5, 9-11). It is more about setting our mind on the things that are above even as we work for the things that make our life here better. It is about not losing sight of the fact that faith, consciously building and maintaining an active relationship with God, gives meaning to the life that one lives here.

We pray to be able to find this necessary balance between the soul and body, between the spiritual and the material wellbeing. May God’s grace continue to remind us that one must not be neglected to the detriment of the other. Little wonder the Scripture asks, ‘…what benefit a person would gain if they were to acquire the whole world but lose their own soul’ (cf Mk 8:36 and Mt 16:26).   

                                                                                      Fr. Ted