Dear Friends in Christ

The readings of the liturgy for this Sunday remind us that the pursuit of the things of this earth, to the detriment of spiritual goods, is foolishness. Neither happiness nor authentic human life itself are founded on worldly goods. The rich fool in the Gospel (depicted by Rembrandt on the front cover) discloses his ‘value system’ in his mental language. He sees himself in a very secure position because he has great resources. He bases his stability and his happiness on his wealth. For him, as for many people, living is a matter of enjoying as much pleasure as possible. It is to do as little as need be, to eat, to drink, 'to have a good time’, to lay up ample goods for many more years. This is his ideal. In his life there is no reference to God, much less to other people. He sees no need to share his goods with others less fortunate than himself. All of that should make us ask ourselves, as we hear the readings at Mass: Where is my heart? Because we know that our destination is Heaven, we have to make positive and concrete acts of detachment with regard to what we own and what we use. How much do we share our goods with the needy? How much time and wealth do we contribute to the charitable works of the Church?

Our meditation on eternal truths is a good antidote against sins of avarice, and a real help to our growing in the Christian virtues. Such thoughts might inspire us to give more attention to how we work, how we spend our time, our money our possessions…since Heaven is our goal, and we cannot travel there with the goods of this world!

God bless you!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Priest@LourdesLeigh.org ✚ 01702 478078
The Sunday Homily is available as a podcast at LourdesLeigh.org