Commentary on the Gospel of
True Home and Destiny
Read:
The book of Ecclesiastes laments the meaninglessness and irony of human life. Paul asks Colossians to set one’s mind on the things from above. Jesus relativizes earthly riches and invites us to seek to be wealthy in the eyes of God.
Reflect:
In the 1989 movie Dead Poets Society, John Keating, the new English teacher, leads his students towards a group photo of senior alumni (who are all now dead), displayed prominently in the school. Referring to them, Keating observes: “The world was their oyster. They believed they were destined for greatness…. But these boys are now fertilizing daffodils.” Shocking imagery, but so very true! How we obsess about many material achievements in life, as if we would live forever! We live as if death happens to someone else, and not to us! Once a woman in her late 80s came to me to discuss her end-of-life decisions. While speaking, she repeatedly used the phrase, “if I die…” I gently said to her: “Perhaps you might want to say, ‘when I die.’” She stood stunned for a moment and then broke into a smile of recognition.
Pray:
Pray for a clear awareness about our true home and destiny.
Act:
Spend some time in a cemetery, meditating on the fragility of life.
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"Life does not depend on possessing many things".
All the "readings" of this Sunday address the same "theme" : "The vanity of this world's goods". The text read in the first reading asks whether it is possible to find happiness in earthly goods such as : power, riches, pleasure... Everything. Vanity of vanities''. Saint Augustine said: "God created us for Himself, and our heart is restless until it rests in Him". "
In the second reading St. Paul told us: "Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the good things that are above, not those of the earth" (Col.3,1). ( Col.3,1) Therefore the most important thing in life is not to have good things, but to do good". "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, their deeds are with them". (Rev.14,13). Certainly wealth in itself is neither good nor bad, what can be bad is the use we make of it. "Beware of all kinds of greed". Let us know how to value what is important from what is not important.
Today's readings shed a very particular light on our present situation, that if we have lost our faith in God and in eternal life, we find ourselves in the same condition as the book of Ecclesiastes. Life seems a contradiction in terms. "Everything is an absurdity".
May the Lord grant us to understand,that authentic life consists not so much in having more, but in being better, in being rich before Him, as Jesus told us at the end of the Gospel.
(Pope Francis): God is faithful in his love, and even stubborn. He always waits for us, even when we close ourselves up in our sadness, constantly ruminating on the evils we have suffered and on the past, a virus that infects and paralyses everything, that closes every door, that prevents us from straightening out our lives, but God is always hopeful: He always believes that we can get up and does not resign himself to seeing us dull and without joy.
Prayer Let us pray to the Lord, that our greatest wealth may be to have Him in our lives.
(Psalm 89) Lord, you have been our refuge from generation to generation.
"HAPPY SUNDAY TO ALL".
