Scripture:
1st Reading Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23
2nd Reading Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
Gospel Luke 12: 13-21
In an attempt at leading her young class on an exploration of their values, a second grade teacher gave the following assignment to her class: Take a large piece of butcher paper or cardboard and draw a line down the center. On the top left side of the line write “Needs”.On the top right put “Wants”.
A few days later when the assignment was due, the classroom was filled with colorful and candid reminders of the materialistic nature within which Christianity is challenged to make an impact. Little fingers and small hands, those of innocence, had cut out images of video-game systems, giant-screen t.v.’s, multi-speed bicycles, as well as the necessities of a young persons diet: ice cream sundaes, cookies, pies and cakes, and a large assortment of candies.
Unfortunately, many of these pictures were put on the side of the poster labeled “Needs”. Obviously the teacher had her work cut out for her. To decipher needs from wants and then to discern true needs from false ones is no easy task. It is, in fact, a life long process which requires continued thought and evaluation.
Had the same assignment been given to a classroom of adolescents or to a group of adults, would the results been different? Or would the pictures simply have reflected the wants of older people, such as: sports cars, designer and name brand clothing, maybe a boat with a cabin, a luxurious home, or would the more mature person also have somehow deciphered between true needs and wants?
Questions like these are put before the gathered assembly today as the readings today prompt us to ask ourselves such questions. The values we hold will dictate how we spend our time, talent and treasure and also will direct us towards how and with whom we will spend our spiritual, physical and emotional energies.
We get so wrapped up in the present days stuff that we forget that we as Christians live in the hope of what is yet to come, our promise of heaven with the love of God which possess us.
In our gospel today, we hear of a man who comes to Jesus with a real problem. His brother is trying to make off with most of the inheritance. He asks Jesus to step in and arbitrate, to get his brother to give him his share.
Yet, Jesus refuses to do so. Instead, he tells a parable about a man who is so busy searching out wealth and luxury that he dies without having any regard for what comes after this earthly life. Jesus is telling this man not to be so concerned with this life that you end up taking your eye off the promise, the gift of eternal life in heaven.
We hear in the first reading how pointless and vain it is to work so hard without any thought for our soul or salvation. It is hard to decipher needs from wants. In our psalm today, we prayed that God give us wisdom to realize that this world is passing and that we need to be attentive to God’s voice to show us what is really worth working for, what labor of ours truly bear fruit, what truly should be our needs for this life.
In the gospel we hear how the man in the parable spent so much time working that he did not prepare his soul for death. He was building up the things of this earth. You can gather plenty in this life but at the time of death have you ever seen a hearse pulling a u-haul trailer? Jesus reminds us that it is important to discern our need for God, who should be at the top of our list of “Needs”..
In our second reading, Paul reminds us what the prize is that is truly worth working towards. He tells us to keep our eyes on the prize of our life in Christ, not only that life in Christ that we already possess in this life, but the future life of glory that we will live with Christ after death.
Paul also reminds us that we are to be busy at putting an end to the reign of sin in our lives and to seek Christ as our all. In no way does this mean we shouldn’t work for things of this earth. Our readings remind us that the good things of this world are not the end all and be all for our lives. The prize is our life with God, our victory over sin and death in Christ Jesus, our striving to become saints with the help of the Holy Spirit.
There once was a young man from a wealthy and influential family whose father owned a prominent newspaper firm. Despite his fathers’s financial success, this young man was more interested in helping the poor than he was at securing his inheritance or making a name for himself in politics or business.
He deeply loved Christ, went to mass daily, and prayed the rosary three times a day. Yet his devotion and faith did not stop him from continuing his studies, going on hiking trips with his friends and looking to better the plight of the poor with social activism.
One cold night, when he returned home without his coat, his frugal father scolded him for having given it to a poor old man. The young man replied; “But you see, father, it was cold”. This young mans name was Pier Giorgio Frassanti from Italy, who Pope John Paul II, who is ”Blessed” himself, beatified and called a man of the beatitudes.
Upon Giorgio’s death the greatest outpouring of love was not from the social elite that his family knew and not from his circle of friends, but rather the poor of Turin in northern Italy, where he was from, who had no idea that Pier Giorgio was even from such an influential family. Blessed Pier Giorgio understood that it is necessary for us to keep our eyes on the prize, that living for Christ and others, striving to become saints ourselves, is more important than any riches or wealth. He realized his true needs for his life.
Pier Giorgio was content with the needs in his life and acted upon what God had called him to do. He did not worry about wanted things. As Socrates once said: “He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have”.
Not all of us are called to the kind of charity practiced by Blessed Pier Giorgio, especially since not many of us come from rich and influential families. However, like Blessed Pier Giorgio, we are all called to keep our focus on Christ, our eyes on the prize of eternal life. This may seem a bit difficult today, but it is not impossible. Today we live in a society that values work and recreation. We work so that we can afford the pleasures of television, movies, vacations, sports and so on. After there creation, we go back to work.
Yet, all too often we can get trapped into the idea that we work so as to afford recreation and do recreation in order to take a break from work. In the midst of this pendulum between the toil of work and the pleasure of recreation, we can easily loose sight of why we are here in the first place.
One way we can keep our eye on the prize, to decipher what is our true needs from the false ones, is to remember that our life in Christ is what is most valuable. Retreats are a way to keep ourselves focused on what is important for us. This doesn’t have to mean going off for a few days to a monastery to pray, though if we did that certainly would not hurt.
Going on retreat, taking some time to be silent and pray can be as simple as scheduling an evening where the t.v. and computers are turned off and yes, our cell phones, so that the family can gather together for the rosary or readings from the family bible. A retreat can be as simple as scheduling one day in the midst of a vacation for silent prayer, or visiting a holy site, like a monastery, a shrine, or a basilica.
A retreat can be as simple as sitting in front of the monstrance that holds our beloved Jesus, really present to us for an hour. I love what Father rick said last Sunday about adoration: Jesus says-I’ll give you a day, can you give me 15 minutes? I’ll give you a week, can you give me 1 hour?
No matter what form our retreat takes, it can be for us the perfect opportunity to take inventory of our needs and our wants, to see where we are going, to see how we live, whether it is for ourselves and our foolish wants, or is it for Jesus who gave his very life for us.
I can’t help but remember those little children in that second grade classroom. Pray for them and pray for their families, that they find peace, joy and happiness in Jesus Christ who at the top of his list of needs put humanity.