Word to the Wise
Sunday, August 7, 2022 - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - C
[Wis 18:6-9; Heb 11:1-2, 8-19 or 11:1-2, 8-12; Luke 12:32-48 or 12:35-40]Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master's return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them." [Luke]
How many of us live our daily lives with a "final day of reckoning" in mind? In the gospel passage for this Sunday from the Gospel According to Luke, Jesus follows up on his parable about the Rich Fool who thought that he could prolong his life by building bigger barns for a surplus harvest. ["Though one may bes rich, one's life does not consist of possessions"] The final reckoning is not just the end of time, but the end of our individual lives.
The early Christian community had to come to terms with the fact that the "second coming" of Jesus would not occur in the near future. The date of that "final reckoning" is unknown. What should be of greater concern is our own "final reckoning" which is also unknown to us but can impact the way we live our daily lives. We are, as human beings, accountable for our care of creation and the earth, but we are also accountable personally for our care of our neighbor. The Rich Fool (like the rich man who ignored Lazarus [Luke 16:19-31] ) lived for himself.
Jesus challenges us to live with the fact that we do not know when we will die. A long life can be a blessing but every minute of it is a gift and not a guarantee. In the light of that teaching, we are challenged to ask what our true treasure is. We cannot take the attitude that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is just around the corner tomorrow for today's transgressions. As one of my spiritual directees wisely commented to me, "Nobody is guaranteed a tomorrow!" Everyday faithfulness to the gospel is the key to the kingdom. AMEN