MORE THAN MONEY IS GREED

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ecc 1: 2; 2: 21 – 23 / Ps 90 / Col 3: 1 – 5, 9 – 11 / Lk 12: 13 – 21

“Money, money, money, must be funny in a rich man’s world. Money, money, money, always sunny in a rich man’s world” says the famous song from Mamma Mia.

We have to admit it that we all need money. We need money to buy food. We need money to sustain our family. We all need money in order to survive in our world today. However, Pope Francis reminds us that “money destroys.” And true enough, we have seen families killing each other all because of money.

And this is what happened in our Gospel today. Someone from the crowd asked Jesus to be the arbiter in a family dispute regarding inheritance. If you notice, Jesus did not say yes to the request but, he expressed his opinion that money per se is not the problem. Rather, the problem lies in our attitude towards money, towards the things that we possess today. And Jesus explicitly named such attitude – greed.  

But what is greed? Jesus in our Gospel today answers the question with a parable.

There was a rich man who had much. Now, since his barns no longer can contain his harvest, he destroyed them and built bigger barns. Notice that the word “I” which refers to the self is mentioned six times in the parable. So, the story tells us that greed is about acquiring more in order to satisfy the self. We accumulate more so that we can satisfy our wants and desires in life. This is very prevalent in our society today. We want to have more money, more gadgets, more properties, and what is worst, some married people today want to have more husbands or more wives because “it’s more fun basta daghan” (it’s fun if there’s more).

That mentality or disposition to acquire in order to satisfy the self makes greed idolatrous. Because we acquire more for ourselves, then, we make ourselves “gods” who need to be satisfied.

My dear friends, the Book of Qoheleth in our First Reading today reminds us that everything is vanity; that everything will come to pass. Everything will come to an end. Walang forever sa pera! (There is no forever in money). And so, St. Paul in the Second Reading reminds us to “think of what is above not of what is below.” And that we must “put to death the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.”

Today, we are therefore invited to DETACH ourselves from our own selfish desires so that we can ATTACH ourselves to God, the only source of real joy. When we do this, we do not fear kung mahutdan ta, kay ATTACHED man ta sa Ginoo nga mohatag nato (we do not fear iof we ran out because we are attached to a God who provides for us). And when we have much from God to whom we are lovingly attached, we do not become greedy, because we are DETACHED from passing things.

Today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. If you have seen the movie, Ignacio de Loyola, which is still showing on cinemas until today, you will see how attached Ignatius was to his being a soldier. Until one fine day, he was hit by a canon ball. Literally, he was detached from his powerful life, and such detachment led him to attach himself to the Lord who alone gave him real joy.

We are all familiar with the saying, “Charity begins at home.” Yes, it is true. But Thomas Fuller better puts it when he said, “charity begins at home, but should not end there.” If charity ends at home then it becomes prone to greed. And so, our experience of charity at home must spill over to others so that we can detach ourselves from money and material possessions and be able to attach ourselves from the source of every blessing, our Father in heaven. Amen.

UNANSWERED PRAYER

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gn 18: 20 – 32 / Ps 138 / Col 2: 12 – 14 / Lk 11: 1 – 13

“Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

You might want to ask: why is still there unanswered prayers? You have asked for an “utang-free” life (debt-free life) but every day the interests in your debts increase. You seek the help of many saints yet your problems are getting bigger and bigger. You have knocked at many churches from Simala to the Basilica but the Lord seem quiet.

My dear friends, this Sunday let us reflect on the reality of UNANSWERED PRAYERS. But let us begin by defining first what is PRAYER according to our Gospel today.

Most of us have always been concerned on the “how” of prayer. We are concerned with the steps and contents of our prayer. The disciples in our Gospel today even asked Jesus, “to teach us how to pray.”

Jesus is giving us a new meaning of prayer when he said, “Father, hallowed be thy name.” To call on God as our Father denotes a relationship. Prayer, therefore, is not formulary but a relationship. It is a living relationship between our Father in heaven and us his children. Like Abraham in the First Reading today who was so open to God with his bargain, in our prayer, we must also be open to God with what it happening inside of us. If you are happy, then, tell God of your happiness. If you are angry with him, then, express to God your anger. Anyway, he is our Father who only desires the best of us.

Now let us turn our reflection on the reality of UNANSWERED PRAYER. We ask, when does your prayer become unanswered? Of course, it is when what you ask for, what you seek, and what you knock from, the Lord, is not given to you. When our dreams do not become realities; when our desires are not met – these are all unanswered prayers.

However, Jesus insists towards the end of our Gospel that if a wicked man give good gifts to his children, “how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” The question therefore on unanswered prayers is not about God. And our Psalmist attests to this when he sang, “Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me!” God always answers our prayers.

But when our prayer becomes unanswered, we are therefore invited to ask ourselves, “what do I really want?” If we want God, then, we must ask for things that can bring us to God, and the Father in heaven will surely answer our prayers. No responsible father is stupid enough to give his children things which are dangerous for them. It’s the same thing with God, our Father. Let us therefore examine the things we are asking from God – whether these things will bring us closer to Him; whether these things will nourish our relationship with him.

My dear friends, this Sunday we are invited to truly check our innermost desires because God’s rejection is his redirection of our intentions, from being selfish to selfless. After all, God’s thoughts are not ours; His ways are not our ways. All we have to do is to trust in his providence, to trust in his mercy.

I once read this beautiful poem by an unknown writer. It goes,

“I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve.

I asked for courage and God gave me dangers to overcome.

I asked for patience and God placed me in situations

 where I was forced to wait.

I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help.

I asked for favors and God gave me opportunities.

I asked for everything so I could enjoy life.

Instead, He gave me life so I could enjoy everything.

I received nothing I wanted, I received everything I needed.”

With this, I begin to doubt if there are really unanswered prayers. Are our prayers really left unanswered by God? Or is it we who have not answered God’s invitation to enter into a loving relationship with him in our prayer? Amen.

WHAT KEEPS YOU BUSY?

16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gn 18: 1- 10 / Ps 15 / Col 1: 24 – 28 / Lk 10: 38 – 42

What keeps you busy? There are many reasons why people are busy today. For example, parents are busy working in order to provide for the family. Students who are here – I hope -- are also genuinely busy with their studies and not with their barkada or ka-fling-fling. For those who are facially challenged, they have always been busy looking for solutions to their eternal facial problem. How about you, what keeps you busy?

Our story this Sunday is a continuation of our Gospel reading last Sunday. But this time Jesus visited the house of his friends, Martha and Mary. As always, when we read this particular text, we usually give our applause to Mary for she found favor with the Lord, and give our boos to Martha for being busy in the kitchen.

However, my dear friends, if we try to analyze once again the story, we realize that the problem of Martha is not about being busy herself in providing hospitality. In fact, Jesus commends this kind of service like what the Good Samaritan did to the dying man in our Gospel last Sunday.

The problem with Martha, however, lies in her being “burdened with much serving.” Her busyness made her unhospitable - Martha embarrassed her sister Mary and asked her guest to intervene a family dispute when she said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to the serving? Tell her to help me.” Martha’s busyness did not only make her unhospitable but it also prevented her from being 100% attentive to Jesus’ presence.

My dear friends, the story of Martha is also our own story today. I know that our busyness stems from our desire to give our loved ones, our families a better comfort. Indeed, service for the family is something commendable. We have to be busy because an idle time is a work of the devil. Laziness, if you remember, is a deadly sin.

However, if we become “burdened with much serving,” then, we become so focused with what we are doing to the point of failing to recognize the presence of Jesus in our midst.

My dear friends, if during the last presidential debate, the then mayor of Davao, asked drug personalities to stop, to seriously stop, Jesus in our Gospel today also challenges us to stop. This is the purpose of our Sunday Eucharist – to remind us that amidst our busy schedule during the week, we must pause. We must stop and gather together around the altar recognizing the presence of Jesus in our midst. And by doing so, Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist becomes a present, a gift which we can share with our families as we go back home.  

As we busy ourselves to survive in this challenging world, may we never forget to be attentive with things that can truly give us joy, that which can truly give us peace, that which can truly bring us to heaven. May we never forget to be attentive to the presence of Jesus in our lives.

Again, what keeps you busy?

So many things can keep us busy today. And God himself is also busy right now. He is busy taking care of us, providing us with our needs. He is busy forgiving our sins and extending his patience towards us.

Before the day ends, let us never forget that we must give time to be attentive to God. Amen.