Fr. Martin Ali Keke Ndemsou sx
18th Sunday Iin Ordinary Time, C
Being rich is not something wrong although in the Bible we encounter many passages where God defends the cause of poor people. Indeed, Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Nothing in wealth is inherently vicious, and nothing in poverty is inherently virtuous.” However, the misuse of wealth can render it vicious.
In the Gospel, Jesus speaks about a successful man whose wealth made a perfect egotist. Being egotist, that man forgot completely those who surely contributed to his success. In fact, in the parable, he uses only the first personal pronoun singular; everything is about himself.
Then he is qualified as fool because he lacked wisdom. Let us remember what the psalmist says about the foolish rich man: “In his riches, man lacks wisdom: he is like the beasts that are destroyed” (Ps 49:13). “This very night the demand will be made for your soul.” Wisdom which is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit could have led him to recognize his dependence on God and others, too, but he had no wisdom.
Moreover, egotism so blinded him that he could not realize that a meaningful life is based on interdependence between people. He forgot that he could not build barns alone; he could not have produced so many crops if he had not been helped by others. That is why, in his plan for the future there was no “we”; others did not exist for him. Yet “Others are paradise “ to quote Gabriel Marcel, a French philosopher.
In addition, in his speech, that wealthy man forgot God. That's why we can say that he was ungrateful; he did not thank God for what he received from him. And let us not forget that where God is absent, selfishness and materialism, which are just vanity, are in total control. We really need to be rich in the sight of God “without whom nothing has firm foundation, nothing is holy” (Collect of 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C).
How to be rich in the sight of God? The answer can be found in the second reading, the letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians: “Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God.” Earthly things are good but they must be be used wisely; they must be means that lead us to God from whom we have received them.
May God help us “to use the good things that pass in such a way as to hold fast even now to those that ever endure” (Collect of 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C).
Fr. Martin Ali keke Ndemsou, sx
18th Sunday Iin Ordinary Time, C
Being rich is not something wrong although in the Bible we encounter many passages where God defends the cause of poor people. Indeed, Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Nothing in wealth is inherently vicious, and nothing in poverty is inherently virtuous.” However, the misuse of wealth can render it vicious.
In the Gospel, Jesus speaks about a successful man whose wealth made a perfect egotist. Being egotist, that man forgot completely those who surely contributed to his success. In fact, in the parable, he uses only the first personal pronoun singular; everything is about himself.
Then he is qualified as fool because he lacked wisdom. Let us remember what the psalmist says about the foolish rich man: “In his riches, man lacks wisdom: he is like the beasts that are destroyed” (Ps 49:13). “This very night the demand will be made for your soul.” Wisdom which is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit could have led him to recognize his dependence on God and others, too, but he had no wisdom.
Moreover, egotism so blinded him that he could not realize that a meaningful life is based on interdependence between people. He forgot that he could not build barns alone; he could not have produced so many crops if he had not been helped by others. That is why, in his plan for the future there was no “we”; others did not exist for him. Yet “Others are paradise “ to quote Gabriel Marcel, a French philosopher.
In addition, in his speech, that wealthy man forgot God. That's why we can say that he was ungrateful; he did not thank God for what he received from him. And let us not forget that where God is absent, selfishness and materialism, which are just vanity, are in total control. We really need to be rich in the sight of God “without whom nothing has firm foundation, nothing is holy” (Collect of 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C).
How to be rich in the sight of God? The answer can be found in the second reading, the letter of Saint Paul to the Colossians: “Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God.” Earthly things are good but they must be be used wisely; they must be means that lead us to God from whom we have received them.
May God help us “to use the good things that pass in such a way as to hold fast even now to those that ever endure” (Collect of 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C).
Fr. Martin Ali keke Ndemsou, sx