HOMILY FOR 18TH SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME YEAR C
HOMILY THEME: THE PARABLE OF THE RICH FOOL…..” Even though you have many possessions, it is not that which gives you life”
BY: Fr, Jordi PASCUAL i Bancells
HOMILY: Today, Jesus places us facing what is fundamental in our Christian life, in our relationship with God: to get rich before him. That is, to fill our own hands and heart with all kinds of supernatural and spiritual goods of grace, and not of material possessions.
This is why, in the light of today’s Gospel we can wonder: what do we fill our heart with? The man of the parable saw it quite clearly: «Rest, eat, drink and enjoy yourself» (Lk 12:19). But this is absolutely not what God expects from his good sons. The Lord do not want our happiness to rely upon legacies, banquets, last model cars, exotic holidays, estates, our armchair, beers or money. All these things may be good, but they cannot satisfy per se our yearning for the plenitude of our souls, and, consequently, we should employ them only as the means they simply are.
This is the experience of St. Ignatius Loyola’s, whose celebration was yesterday. This is how he admitted it in his own auto-biography: «When he thought of worldly things, he delighted in them, but when he gave them up, dead bored, he felt sad and empty; when he thought, instead, of the penances he observed in the just men, he felt solace and comfort, not only in that very moment, but even afterwards, he felt contented and cheerful». And this can also be our own experience.
Because material and earthly things become outdated and expire; but, spiritual things are eternal, they last forever and are the only ones that can fill our heart and give a meaning to our human and Christian life.
Jesus said it very clear: «You fool!» (Lk 12:20), this is how He qualifies those who only have material, earthly and selfish aims. Let us beg we may always present ourselves before God, at any time, with our hands and heart full of our efforts to seek our Lord and to look for what it pleases to him, for this is the only thing that will take us to Heaven.
Fr, Jordi PASCUAL i Bancells
(Salt, Girona, Spain)
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