Homilies

18th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: THE PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOL

ONCE, A WOMAN in her seventies requested me to bless her new house in Tagaytay City. It was a beautiful house situated on top of a hill overlooking the scenic Taal Lake. After the blessing, the woman told me that it was her eighth house. When I learned that she was unmarried, I asked her why she built eight houses. Her shocking response was, “Father, in the past I collected cars, and now I am shifting to houses.”

The gospel today, which is a parable of the rich fool, teaches us some important lessons in life.  Living in a materialistic and consumerist world makes us open to the temptation of greed and thus, makes us forget that we should enrich ourselves spiritually, or in the “matters of God”.

First, we need to realize that material possessions are not evil in themselves. These are actually gifts from God and he expects us to use these for our personal growth. These are tools or means for our growth. We need food, we need clothing, we need shelter. This is the truth! However, it may become evil if things are inverted. That, instead of looking at these as means, they become ends or goals of our life.  And there the evil called “greed” comes to the picture. Greed is not only a sickness among the rich. It is a sickness of all people. Jesus warns, “Take care to guard against all greed.” So, he was referring to all forms of greed. Greed appears if we never feel satisfaction in what we have. We always long for happiness and enjoyment. But happiness, in the final analysis, cannot be simply seen the quantity of what we have, but being content in what we have.

Second, let us also take note that the gospel is not only addressed to the rich. It is actually addressed to people who have no regard for God in their lives.  It is actually addressed those who no longer believe in God. The fool in the gospel has never considered God and his future with God. His life was focused only on epicurean life. In consequence, God reminded him, “You, fool, this night your life will be demanded of you!” Indeed, more people have never reflected that one day they would die because God would take back our life. While living or alive, preparing for the great meeting or encounter with God was out of their minds. Perhaps, it is because God appears not to be relevant in their lives.

Third, greed is a human tendency. And I think it would be better that we reflect on how we could cope with it, and hopefully, get rid of it. People become greedy because they only think of their own passion and needs. Others and the needs of others are beyond their concerns. Therefore, the best thing to do is to try to move out from our own world, be aware of the world of others, and try to enter into their world. The key to entry to the world of others is compassion. Spiritual writers would talk about the movement from “selfishness” to “selflessness.” Or from personal “passion” to “compassion”.

As soon as we try to help and serve our needy or less fortunate brothers and sisters, our attitude toward possessions simply changes. We can never be greedy anymore because our concern now is the sharing of gifts.

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