Homily for May 28, 2018.
“By his
great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable,
undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” 1 Peter 1:3-4.
We might
not all agree about this but the truth is that we live in a world where money
is a god; we live in a world where the only value people still believe in is
riches. As one musician puts it, the Creed of today’s world is: *“If it is not
making money, it is not making sense.”* So, whatever does not make me richer,
make me drive that nice car or wear those designer clothes is not worth it.
Sadly, the
only reason why religion still appeals to many today is that people still
believe that religion holds the key to satisfying that greed. I saw a short
video on social media: a pastor having received a tithe donation from one of
his female church members gave his wedding invitation card to her and
introduced the girl he was about to marry. The female church member became
extremely furious as to why he decided to pick a girl who wasn’t even a member
of the church after all the “investment” he had been receiving from the
congregation.
She even
went on to say that she was pregnant with the pastor. He asked: “How? By the
spirit?” She answered: “through my seeds, I have been sowing, through the gifts,
I have been giving, I put food on your table, I ensure you get everything you
need. Instead of you to notice me, you have brought another person to come and
reap what I have suffered to sow… don’t allow your ministry to fall oh, you
went to bring Jezebel that you don’t know and left us; we that you know.”
Although
the video was funny, I couldn’t help asking myself questions afterwards. Do
people still go to church to worship God or is it the case that we now see the
church as some investment centre? Something like a bank?
As I was
reflecting on this, I came across another video, a social experiment conducted
by the Joey Salads group. Four guys set up surveillance cameras to find out if
people valued money more than human life. The results were quite shocking. Those
who are well to do by society standards chose money over the life of a baby but
those who were by all standards poor and had nothing to live on saw the money
but preferred to save the life of baby than enrich themselves.
Dear
friends, the questions I want to ask myself now is: “Is making money important
to me?” “Has money become my god?” “Do I nurse this belief or fear that if I lose
money, it would reduce my chances of survival?” “Do I find it difficult to give
money away because I feel what I have will not be enough for me?”
In today’s
Gospel passage, a young man walked away from Jesus sad because he could not
bring himself to the point of selling all he had and giving that to the poor in
other to follow Jesus. This young man had come to Jesus seeking for the key to
inheriting eternal life. Why did he come to Jesus when up until that moment he
had lived a rather good life keeping all God’s commandments? The young man came
to Jesus because deep within him, he knew something was lacking, but could not
place it; he sure felt a sense of emptiness within him but he didn’t know why.
Jesus knew
what he lacked and sensed his deepest insecurities and fears. Jesus could see
that this young man worshipped his riches, he believed in his riches, he placed
all his trust in his riches and his greatest fear was losing even a dime. Jesus
then gave him a very had pill, one that was going to make the young man
transfer his trust in riches to a solid trust in God, one that was going to
cure him of his inner emptiness, one that was going to puncture the wall he had
built around himself keeping him away from the cries of the hungry, homeless
and less privileged.
The young
man walked away sad. He couldn’t let go. He didn’t realize that that for those
who put their trust in God, there are great riches, true riches awaiting them in
heaven. These are the riches St. Peter speaks about in today’s first reading,
these riches are imperishable, undefiled and unfading. Dear friends, be
prepared to lose everything you have now knowing that true wealth awaits you in
heaven. Let not your pursuit of worldly riches prevent you from that which is
kept for you in heaven.
Let us
pray: Lord Jesus, give me the wisdom to re-order my priorities, to work not
only for worldly wealth but more importantly for eternal life. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith.
It is well with you. God bless you. (Monday of the 8th Week in
Ordinary Time. Bible Study: 1st Peter
1:3-9 and Mark 10:17-27).
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