Monday of
the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
October 20,
2014 8:30am
How much is enough?
How much money or savings is
enough?
I remember this question being
discussed in a men’s Scripture group in my last parish.
It is a difficult question to
answer.
But it is a good question to ask,
especially in light of today’s gospel.
Jesus says: “Guard against greed.”
In other words, be aware that you
don’t get carried away into thinking that more and more money or more and more possessions
will bring you satisfaction or happiness.
Still, there is not a black and
white, simple solution to “guarding
against greed” or determining how much is enough.
I do think we can find three lessons
in Jesus’ teaching that will help us to keep things in check.
First, Jesus wants us to find
happiness in who we are, not in what we have.
He says “One’s life does not consist of possessions.”
He assures us that we are
valuable and worthwhile in ourselves as sons and daughters of God, in other
words, in who we are and not in what we have.
So we need to be prayerfully
rooted in the Lord and in this truth.
Second, Jesus wants us to make
relationships a priority.
At the beginning of today’s
gospel, there was a squabble over money within a family.
The relationships had become
second to the money.
Jesus calls us to make
relationships first.
And third, Jesus consistently
calls us to be sensitive to those who are in need.
Our sense of charity and justice
will keep our acquisitiveness in check.
Rather than storing up everything
for ourselves, as the man in the parable does, we are to share something, a
fair portion of what we receive and have for the good of others.
So, finding our happiness in who
we are and not in what we have, making relationships a priority, and sharing a
fair portion of what we receive and have – this will help us to heed Jesus’
caution in today’s gospel.
