Be Rich and Still Get to Heaven

6th Sunday In Ordinary Time
14 February 2010


We are God’s people, the sheep of his flock: come, let us worship him, alleluia.

First reading Jeremiah 17:5-8
The Lord says this:
‘A curse on the man who puts his trust in man,
who relies on things of flesh,
whose heart turns from the Lord.
He is like dry scrub in the wastelands:
if good comes, he has no eyes for it,
he settles in the parched places of the wilderness,
a salt land, uninhabited.
‘A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord,
with the Lord for his hope.
He is like a tree by the waterside
that thrusts its roots to the stream:
when the heat comes it feels no alarm,
its foliage stays green;
it has no worries in a year of drought,
and never ceases to bear fruit.’

Psalm or canticle: Psalm 1:1-4,6

Second reading 1 Corinthians 15:12,16-20
If Christ raised from the dead is what has been preached, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, you are still in your sins. And what is more serious, all who have died in Christ have perished. If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people.
But Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.

Gospel Luke 6:17,20-26
Jesus came down with the Twleve and stopped at a piece of level ground where there was a large gathering of his disciples with a great crowd of people from all parts of Judaea and from Jerusalem and from the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon Then fixing his eyes on his disciples he said:
‘How happy are you who are poor: yours is the kingdom of God.
Happy you who are hungry now: you shall be satisfied.
Happy you who weep now: you shall laugh.
Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven. This was the way their ancestors treated the prophets.
‘But alas for you who are rich: you are having your consolation now.
Alas for you who have your fill now: you shall go hungry.
Alas for you who laugh now: you shall mourn and weep.
‘Alas for you when the world speaks well of you! This was the way their ancestors treated the false prophets.’

Reflection
By Benj Santiago

“If our hope in Christ is good for this life only and no more, then we deserve more pity than anyone else in all the world”

In my business and at the same time apostolate as missionary for spreading financial literacy, I meet different kinds of people with varied levels of education and financial standing. It’s a pity that many people romanticize poverty. They say it is okay with them to be poor for they are closer to Jesus that way. They do not want to be rich for it will take away their chance to enter heaven, as if there are no rich people in heaven.

St. Paul is very clear in his teaching to people in Corinth. He said that we need to hope in Christ not just for our temporal needs of this world but for our everlasting life in heaven. This does not mean that we must be poor or we must not be rich so we can enter heaven. It simply means that for whatever we strive for in our life, and beyond, we put our hope in Christ.

I meet a lot of people happy and rich people, whose main aim to be rich, is to be able to help more people with what they have. They are rich not because they are greedy of wealth, but because they want to share more of what they have to less fortunate. They are extremely happy now, and I’m sure they’ll be happier when they reach their final destination: heaven.

Heavenly Father, we ask You to bless us with wisdom to put our hope in Your Son Jesus Christ our Lord for whatever temporal things we long for on earth, that may lead us to heaven
Amen.

Next week on God-speak
Repentance and Forgiveness