TRUE RICHES VERSUS RICHES THAT BRING SORROW. (Homily for May 19, 2016. Thursday of the 7th week in Ordinary Time.)


Bible Study:  James 5, 1 to 6 and Mark 9, 41 to 50.


The book of Proverbs chapter 10, verse 22 states: “The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.” To be rich is a blessing which only God can give. And when one is rich, he or she becomes a source of blessing to others who are not as lucky. True riches bring joy and happiness. They help to prolong one’s life by saving him or her or health issues. True riches not only make their owners happy, they also become agents of happiness to those who come in contact with them. Happiness just like sadness is contagious. A single genuine smile can light up a whole crowd of people.

However as St. James points out today, there is a kind of riches that does the very opposite of what true riches can do. There is a form of wealth that brings sorrow rather than joy. There is the riches that only make its owner restless and unhappy. This kind of riches is not a blessing from God, rather it is the type of riches Satan promised to give Jesus if he agreed to bow. Satanic riches is that gotten from injustice, denial and oppression of others, refusal to pay your worker’s salaries and wages as at when due, eating the sweat and pains of others without conscience.

Satanic riches are those gotten from having to deny God by indulging in sin, riches gotten from others by trickery or robbery, riches gotten from looting public funds thereby denying one’s nation the chance of economic development, riches gotten by having to make people suffer. All such riches only leave their owners in perpetual sorrow.

In the Gospel passage, Jesus recommends that we should not be afraid to cut off our hands and legs and pluck out our eyes so as to avoid sin. When we apply it to what St. James is saying in the first reading, it means if for instance, becoming wealthy is something that will lead you to offend God, it is better to remain poor in this life and go to heaven than to become the richest person on earth only to die and receive a triumphant welcome in hell.

Just as it is good to have a hand and leg and eyes to see the world, it is also good to aspire for wealth and to pray for it from God. But if becoming rich has to involve sin, then pluck it out! Cut it off.

Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, help me to free myself from the desire to compete with the world for material things but to realise that my goal is heaven. Amen.


Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. 

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