On Being Greedy

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

August 4, 2013

"Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions"

First Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:2,2:21-23

Vanity of vanities, Qoheleth says. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity!

  For so it is that a man who has laboured wisely, skilfully and successfully must leave what is his own to someone who has not toiled for it at all. This, too, is vanity and great injustice; for what does he gain for all the toil and strain that he has undergone under the sun? What of all his laborious days, his cares of office, his restless nights? This, too, is vanity.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 89:3-6,12-14,17

Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-5,9-11

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life – you too will be revealed in all your glory with him.

  That is why you must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life: fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god; and never tell each other lies. You have stripped off your old behaviour with your old self, and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its creator; and in that image there is no room for distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised or the uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free man. There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.

Gospel: Luke 12:13-21

A man in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.’ ‘My friend,’ he replied, ‘who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?’ Then he said to them, ‘Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.’

  Then he told them a parable: ‘There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” But God said to him, “Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?.” So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.’

Reflection

By Mark Rodney Vertido

Just this week, the Philippine media released the news on the unbalanced human development index (HDI) in the country. Mindanao provinces remain the undeveloped parts of the country. What happened to the distribution of wealth in the country? It is said that majority of the wealth goes to a number of families only and the remaining is distributed to the other 90 million people in our country.

What do we mean by HDI? HDI is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and income indices used to rank countries into four tiers of human development. It is good that these reports are published and they show that there are indeed gaps in order to balance life in our country. We always complain that such results are the effect of the government’s inefficiency and we would point out corruption as the source of the problem.

Corruption is rampant in the country that is why even in the recent registration for barangay elections, people suddenly rushed to register. Observers say that this is again another tactic used by corrupt local government officials to control the system and the budget for projects. Is this the picture that “Juan and Juana de la Cruz” want of their country? Is corruption embedded in the veins of Filipinos already? Why are Juans and Juanas being driven by money?

They would say that our cultural and historical background have resulted to this greedy attitude of Filipinos. Being under Spanish rule for more than 333 years and under the American rule for more than 40 years, this has shaped our politics and attitudes towards governing. We do not want to be oppressed again but we have failed to govern our country according to the standards of Christian morality where our very own constitution was based.

So this Sunday, Jesus points out clearly to focus our hearts to the One who is more important than anyone or anything. Are we not supposed to love God first? A very popular Gospel verse tells, “Seek ye first the kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you,” (cf. Mt 6:33).

I was taught by my parents to become thrifty in my money so that when time comes that I need it, I can have something to use from my very own pocket. I know that this is also being practiced by many. In the Gospel, Jesus shows a parable on the rich man who stored up his treasures for his benefit. But Jesus says that these treasures will be taken away. Being thrifty to save money is not bad at all, it becomes a sin when these treasures are being kept for the sake of oneself. That is greed!

All things have come from Divine Providence. I am sure God wants us to fully attain happiness by sharing these riches to people who are in need. With the results of the HDI, it only shows that greed exists in our society. What will we gain of being greedy and not being contented with what we have?

But I would like to take note that the HDI measures human development through indicators which are biased to the financial ability of people to acquire daily needs and attain education so that life expectancy is longer. It is still all about money. This would be related to another study on the world’s happiest nations wherein the measurement is based on economic spending and financial status of citizen. It reports that if a country is economically rich, then people are happier. I know one word that captures everything that I have written, that is, CONSUMERISM. The world is governed by consumerist-materialist who views the world as a statistic of money and spending.

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions,” Jesus warns us. I believe that life is not all about material possessions for all of these will pass. When people can smile amidst storms in life and can stand after every storm to hope for a better future - these we can consider as riches. God wants us to attain eternal happiness with Him as such let us focus our hearts to the heavenly treasure rather than material riches. For everything will come to us if we focus first on God himself.

Prayer

Father, help us to focus more on heavenly riches. Help us to love more, to share more and to spend more time in Your presence! In Jesus' name. Amen.

Respect, Responsibility, Love and God

First Reading: Gn 2:18-24

The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him." So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.

So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called 'woman, ' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken. "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife

and the two of them become one flesh.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6

Second Reading: Heb 2:9-11

Brothers and sisters:

He "for a little while" was made "lower than the angels, " that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering. He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin.

Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them 'brothers.'

Gospel: Mk 10:2-16

The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked, "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?" They were testing him. He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?" They replied, "Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her." But Jesus told them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh.

Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate." In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.

Reflection

by Mark Vertido

In the life of the Church, the month of October is one of the most colorful months aside from December. It is celebrated as the month of Mama Mary, the month of the Holy Rosary. But this year, October marks the start of the Year of Faith, celebrating fifty years of the Second Vatican Council. Thus, I will focus our Sunday reflections in the light of both celebrations.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus clearly states our doctrine on marriage and divorce. Simply, Jesus does not approve in any way the concept of divorce. And as such, the Church had stated its position on divorce ever since. In the Philippines, a number of groups are opening again the passing of a divorce bill with their arguments of giving a better life for the wife and her children since the marriage cannot be fixed already. The idea is noble in its own respect but I believe that there is a nobler way to address this problem that has affected many families in our society, leaving them broken.

As I teach Filipino Family and Family Values System in college, my conviction that the condition of the family reflects that of society has become more concrete. Why is this so? Primarily, the family is the basic unit of our society. Now, as we try to observe the things that are happening in our society as reflected by main stream media, the concept of real family and marriage life has changed. Watching “telenovelas” will reveal how the media wants to manipulate the sanctity of marriage. It is interesting to note that the theme of some shows is that anyone can sacrifice the marriage just to follow what the heart dictates. I do not categorically include all shows but there are a majority of these.

These shows and other forms have promoted a mentality among the people of how to deal with unhappy relationships. But they fail to show the real meaning of being in a relationship and so as more in married life. We have seen stories of getting married because of what we call ‘love at first sight.’ Or that of young people who get into pre-marital sex then marries each other. There might be some who advocates a getting-to-know each other relationships or respecting each other relationships but never been the focus.

Media is one of the most powerful factors affecting the behavior of people nowadays because of the fact that many are extremely addicted and reliant to “telenovelas”. So it is not already surprising that many families experience being broken because of the order of our traditions have been modified already. This problem is likened to a grown tree that is very difficult to uproot because the roots are embedded deeply. And we know already the causes of unsuccessful marriage and the effects it brings to the couple and the child.

Reflecting from the experience of my own parents, although, I would also be open to say that my father had a past relationship but not legally bound and they had a son. So I was the first born of my father to my mother whom he wedded. Their story is like Romeo and Juliet also but because I was formed then they needed to be with each other for the rest of their lives. Yes, I am a product of that pre-marital thing but I thank them that they wanted me to live. I grew up in a normal family; we may not have everything but we are happy. What I observed is that my parents have respect and love for each other. They help each other to raise the family. There are times of misunderstanding but I never seen my father lifting a hand to hurt my mother. There is respect, responsibility and love between them and they continue that until today, passing 22 years now.

Jesus, Himself, was in danger of growing in a broken family when Joseph wanted to divorce Mary but when Joseph was enlightened he accepted everything and raised the Holy Family. This was because the Holy Family was guided by God. I cannot imagine a missing father in the Holy Family and Mama Mary as a single mother. The Holy Family is an example for every family.

Today, some couples do not recognize God as the third partner of the marriage that is why everything goes wrong. So I would conclude that the keys to successful marriage are respect, responsibility, love and God. Jesus sets the rules and we must follow. God has given an example to couples and they must imitate it. Our society needs to be fixed and the key to this is a healthy family but then the key to a healthy family lies with the couple.

The Year of Faith focuses on the New Evangelization which includes the use of media and technology in proclaiming the Gospel to the people of God. It is hard to stop the main stream media but it is possible. Each of us as part of the Church needs to work to bring back what was broken in our society. Let us start from our own families, and then let us evangelize others through media and technology.

Commitment: Be faithful in any relationship that we have.

Prayer

Lord, bless every family on earth. Guide couples to recognize You in their life. Give them the strength to surpass all conflicts and misunderstanding that may arise in married life. Strengthen families that we may proclaim Your Name to everyone as we try to revive the richness of faith in everyone. Make us one family in You and let the Holy Spirit animate us to live and love truly. Amen.