All is Vanity

Sir 1: 2, 2: 21-23; Ps 89, 3-6.12-14; Col 3: 1-5, 9-11; Lk 12, 13- 21

Good morning brothers and sisters and welcome to today’s eucharistic assembly where we encounter the Lord; where the Lord speaks to us and we in turn offer him our sacrifices, offerings of prayer and praise.

Today’s readings remind us that the human heart can only find true peace and contentment when it is united with God. For vanity upon vanity, all is vanity. All things are passing. God alone should be our ultimate goal. The famous Bishop of Hippo, Saint Augustine wrote in one of masterpieces, the Confessions “O Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

So, the ultimate question is: what becomes of all the riches and treasures you keep storing up for yourself when your earthly sojourn is done? If you are blessed with riches and wealth, then so you know that you have been blessed, so that you become a blessing for others.

The material wealth, earthly things, God has blessed us with are not ends in themselves. They are mere things, means, instruments that should enable us reach our ultimate end. Charity with your talents, time and resources is how you store up treasures for yourself in heaven.

In his letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul makes some categorical statements: if we are truly Christians, we must seek the things that are above where Christ is. We should seek the things that are eternal and not be locked up in the earthly pleasures. Sometimes, earthly comfort makes us forget that Heaven is the ultimate goal.

If Heaven is the ultimate goal, we are reminded that that all forms of immorality, impurity, evil desires, greed, lies, calumny and falsehood impede us from reaching this ultimate goal.

The Gospel singles out one of the capital sins – Greed. Jesus says: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions. Greed is self-centeredness, selfishness, insatiability and sometimes leads to ingratitude. The Gospel is very practical and direct. It teaches us about the virtues of charity and generosity and avoid all forms of greed and avarice. There are many forms of greed besides the material greed; we also have power greed, emotional greed, intellectual and spiritual greed.

Greed makes us want to gather more and more for ourselves while being indifferent to the needs of our neighbor. Greed makes us think only of ourselves. All fingers are not the same, that is why we are created for each other – to help each other. It was the German Philosopher, Martin Heidegger who said that man is a Being-with-Others and a Being-For-Others.

The rich man is today’s parable was obviously hardworking and successful but he got too full of himself. He didn’t learn to love, to share with others. So, the question is: “all those his wealth, riches whose will they become when his time was up.”

We should not be engrossed in the earthly comfort that we forget the essentials of Being-with-others and Being-for-others. We are now in August, the year is almost winding down, how much charity have you done? Or you still gathering and gathering without thinking about others around you? There is joy in sharing. Lord, help us to conquer all temptations to greed and avarice, may we share our blessings with others, especially those in need. Amen.

Fr. Valentine Umoh, PhD