August 1, 2010 EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE CHURCH YEAR
1 AUGUST 2010, 5:15, 8:00, 10:00
READINGS: Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23; Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21
SAINT MARY PARISH, VIROQUA
Introduction: Today’s readings are best summed up with Jesus’ words to the crowds traveling with him, “One’s life does not consist of possessions.” We all know that. Still, the message serves as an occasional reminder of what is really important in life.
1. One Jewish rabbi writes, “A baby enters the world with hands clenched, as if to say, ‘The world is mine; I shall grab it.’ A man leaves with hands open, as if to say, ‘I can take nothing with me.’” At the end of one’s life what is most important is not something we can hold in our hands or our wallets. So, we are called upon to share. A philosopher writes, “The question of bread for myself is a material question, but the question of bread for my neighbor is a spiritual question.” Our lives are infinitely richer if we address that spiritual question.
2. If it is not possessions that enrich us, what does? Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist living in Vienna, Austria before WWII. He was a psychiatrist, a Jewish psychiatrist. So, like so many of his faith, he was arrested by the Nazi’s and placed in a concentration camp. There he was able to continue caring for those who were sick, physically, mentally, emotionally. Frankl survived the war and upon his release he wrote a wonderful book titled “Man’s Search for Meaning.” He writes frankly about his fears upon entering the camp. He asked where a partner of his might be found. Another prisoner replied, “Was he sent to the left instead of the right?” “Yes,” Frankl replied. “Then you can see him up there!” And, he pointed to the smoke coming out of the chimneys. He writes about the long imprisonment and its effects upon the human mind. Death was so commonplace he and his fellow prisoners became apathetic to the death of a friend. He writes about liberation in 1945. How difficult it was to believe they were free! They would have to relearn the meaning of freedom. It’s then that he makes one of his remarkable comments. So often in the camps the physically strong perished while the weak survived. How can that be? He replies with a quote from the philosopher Nietzsche, “So long as we have a why for living we can bear almost any how!” He writes about a man who survived because there was a child he felt sure had survived in a foreign country. It kept him going. He writes about a scientist who had written a series of books which still needed to be finished. No one else could finish them. These men survived because they had a why for living. Now, if the ‘why’ we have for living is simply money and possessions, well, it may keep us alive, but not richly so. If our ‘why’ is faith, family and friends, well, we will live richly.
3. Having good values, treasures in heaven, may not insure a long life, but they will insure a meaningful one. We can live this principle in simple ways. A late priest friend of mine told me that every time he buys a new shirt or pair of trousers he takes one from his closet to give away. Saint John Chrysostom wrote, “The rich man is not one who is in possession of much, but one who gives much.”
Conclusion: Let us share our earthly treasures generously; let us store up treasures in heaven!