26-Jul-2016 Dear Friend, There are moments in our lives when we are full of questions with no ready answers. "Why is life so unfair?" Why do good people suffer and bad people prosper? Why are the innocent people victims of terrorism? Why do people doing so much good suddenly die? Sometimes it appears that life makes no sense at all unless we have faith in a God who knows what's happening! For that matter, how do we live our life to make the most of it? Have a quiet weekend pondering the questions! -Fr. Jude Sun Ref. Eighteenth Sunday: “Do we trust in God or things! Getters or Givers???” 31-Jul-2016Eccl.1: 2; 2: 21-23; Coll. 3: 1-5, 9-11; Luke 12: 13-21;
Today’s reading from Ecclesiastes asks what really matters in life. Even the man who has laboured skillfully must leave what he has acquired to someone else who has not toiled for it at all. Pessimistically the wise man wonders: Has he laboured in vain? Does life make sense? The Book of Ecclesiastes, which is a series of glimpses into life, gives thought to these phenomena. Looking at this world the author came up with one main word to describe it: vanity, which in Hebrew connotes 'vapour' or 'a chase after wind'. VanityVanity is well illustrated by Aesop's fable of the fox and the crow. The coal-black crow flew into a tree with a stolen piece of meat in her beak. A fox, who saw her, wanted the meat, so he said, "How beautiful you are my friend! Is your voice as beautiful?" The crow was so happy that she opened her mouth to sing. Down fell the piece of meat and the fox seized upon it and ran away. - In our time, vanity could be applicable to the woman who, aiming to prove her contention that men are more vain than women, said in a speech: "It is a pity that most intelligent and learned men attach least importance to the way they dress. Why, right here in this room the most cultivated man is wearing the most clumsily knotted tie!" As if on signal, every man in the room immediately put his hand to his tie to straighten it.Harold Buetow in 'God still speaks: Listen!' Today’s Gospel speaks of having our priorities right in life. To many people money appears to be the most important ingredient of life and their constant prayer is that God might give them plenty of money. At times we even ask God to intervene on our behalf in money matters. This does not happen only today but took place even in Jesus' times. A man in the crowd said to Jesus, "Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance." We are well aware how money and inheritance cause family breakups in the best of families today. What is Jesus' response? He could have intervened but he refused to get involved, and preferred the matter be solved by the rightful authorities. Human beings have to take responsibility for their actions and not ask God to intervene in mundane matters. Instead of taking a practical decision in the matter Jesus prefers to point to the principle that should guide our dealings in money matters. "Watch and be on your guard against greed of any kind, for a man's life is not made secure by what he owns, even if he has more than he needs." In the second part of the gospel Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool who messed up his priorities and consequently ruined his life. What makes him foolish is that he spent his whole life storing up earthly wealth and not thinking beyond. If we are building our life on something that does not last we are fools building castles in the sands. The only riches worth pursuing are those that give meaning to life on earth and have eternal value. Is our life principle: "Eat, drink and make merry for today is all that counts!" "Really Livin!"In one of his stories Bill Glass, an evangelist tells the story of a multi-millionaire Texas oil man. He wanted to be buried when he died in a solid gold, custom-made Cadillac surrounded by all his wealth. At his funeral a vast crowd assembled to pay their last respects. The dead man was dressed in his finest apparel -the kind Liberace wore when he performed, and was propped up in the front seat of his golden Cadillac. As the car was lowered into the grave, a young boy in the crowd said: "Man, that's really livin!” Bill Glass goes on to emphasize the point of his parable. What we often think of as "'really livin'" is "really dyin". What we often pursue under the illusion of a 'full life' leads only to an 'empty grave'. Today's reading says much the same thing. Albert Cylwicki in 'His Word Resounds' The QuestionA rich man heard that a certain priest had a 'hot line' to God, and he came to him in search of a favour. He wanted the priest to pray and find out if he, the rich man, was going to heaven when he died. It was a strange request, but when the priest heard that the man was prepared to contribute generously towards the completion of the church repairs, he decided to give it a go. A week later the rich man returned. "Did you find out?" he asked. "Yes I did," replied the priest. "Well then, what's the answer”, the rich man asked very anxiously. "The answer is in two parts" replied the priest. "There is good news, and there's bad news. Which would you like to hear first?" The man was quite nervous, but he ventured to hear the good news first. "The good news is that you are going to heaven when you die." The rich man was thrilled, and excited, and it was a few seconds before he spoke. "That's great. That's the good news. Surely what could be bad news after that? What's the bad news?" "The bad news is that you're going to die tonight!"Jack McArdle in 'And that's the Gospel Truth' Candle in the windIn 1997, at the funeral of Lady Diana Spencer, Singer Elton John brought tears to the eyes of hundreds of mourners in Westminster Abbey when he sang: “Candle in the wind”. Interestingly, this song –with the line “Goodbye Norma Rose” –was originally written for an equally glamorous person, Norma Jeane, who assumed the stage name ‘Marilyn Monroe’ and died some 45 years ago on August 5, 1962 due to an overdose of sleeping pills. Diana and Marilyn share many things in common –both were beautiful and wealthy, photographed by paparazzi worldwide, yet, unhappy in marriage and both died tragically in August aged but 36. Young icons snuffed out like candles in the wind. In vain do we labour for what perishes. Vanity of vanities! All is vanity! All of human life is ultimately meaningless if viewed in itself, apart from God.Francis Gonsalves in ‘Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds’ Love people and use thingsThere is a story about an empty village and a stranger who enters the deserted town. Where are the people? All the signs of life are here, nothing is locked, food is on the table, smoke is curling in the chimneys, and stores are open but empty of customers. He doesn’t understand, but he proceeds to have a wonderful time. Soon he is too drunk and happy to realize that the villagers are all on a nearby hill and are desperately trying to signal to him. First they rush outside the town because they were told that a huge bomb in the town square was about to go off. They left everything to save their lives. From a distance they try vainly by gestures and shouting to warn the stranger, taking care not to come too close. They watch him eat their food and drink their liquor, and try on their clothes. But when the happy stranger goes to the bank and flings their money into the air, they forgot everything but their greed. They rush back to the village, beat up the stranger, and drive him out. At that moment the bomb explodes. They all die, except the stranger whom they chased out!!!John Pichappilly in ‘The Table of the Word’ May we live in the present with our eyes set on the beyond! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections.These reflections are also available on my Web site www.NetForLife.net Thank you.
