18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney
Eccl 1:2, 2:21-23; Col 3:1-5, 9-11; Lk 12:13-21
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
1 Aug 2010
This afternoon I am preaching at a Mass here in the Cathedral to celebrate the 130th anniversary of the founding of St. Ignatius' College at Riverview, run by the Jesuit fathers. As well as speaking with one or two people, I was dipping into St. Ignatius of Loyola's famous Spiritual Exercises, which form the basis of many spiritual retreats today.
I was partially surprised to read again in those pages that St. Ignatius warned especially against pride, possessions and power. He was a master of the spiritual life and the work is a classic; clear headed, tough, demanding and based four-square on the teaching of Christ Our Lord.
I wonder today whether he would add other qualities to the list, like dishonesty, lack of personal discipline. Do the dangers he mentioned cover the problem of sexual weakness, especially in an age of contraception and pornography like todays? We can only surmise about this.
But Ignatius' warning against greed follows on directly from today's gospel of Luke, where Jesus refuses to follow the useful practice of many rabbis, who were called on to arbitrate in family disputes on money. He is not going to judge on these matters, but points to the underlying problem. At least one of those in the dispute is likely to have been greedy, rather than motivated by a sense of justice and it is possible that both parties were avaricious.
The passage is found only in Luke's gospel, although we find some parallel in the apocryphal gospel of Thomas, which the Church did not accept as genuinely inspired.
Jesus' message is basic and simple. Possessions are not life. Jesus refused to identify the worth and dignity of human life with possessions. It is much more important to be a person of faith, hope and love, than to be rich and powerful. The poorest of the poor have an intrinsic dignity and can be great saints, outstanding models. In other places Jesus pointed out that wealth, and especially an unseemly attachment to wealth, are impediments to being like Christ.
I sometimes quote the woman parishioner who pointed out to me that possessions cannot return your love, but money and possessions can take over our lives, harden our hearts and even in some cases become consuming passions. Such people will do almost anything for money.
In another place we have Jesus' notorious teaching that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter heaven.
Poverty is defined differently in different societies and as I mentioned earlier the materially poor can be spiritually rich. It is also true that few people in Australia are poor like many are in Africa. Basic pensions mean that many who are miserable in Australia are leading disordered lives. By the standards of history most Australians are comfortable, even rich.
Most of us are not called to practise radical poverty, because we have neither the faith nor the strength to sustain us in this way of life. But we should never allow money or possessions to become our masters.
One good measure to prevent our hearts from becoming hard and selfish is to be generous regularly to good causes; to the life of the Church and for the poor and needy here in Australia and overseas, especially through Caritas and Project Compassion during Lent. The St. Vincent de Paul Society is always seeking more volunteers to help them in their charitable work. And the number in trouble is, by most reports, increasing in this time of financial pressure. Australia is better off than most Western countries, but people are still hurting.
I might conclude with a few words on the first reading from the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes on the claim that all is vanity. Vanity of vanities.
This was written before the Son of God became man and by His taking flesh consecrated human life and activity. It is true that wise and rich parents can have foolish children who will dissipate the inheritance, but Christian teaching emphasises that genuine human achievements are not wasted - in our families, businesses, among friends and in society. In some mysterious way they contribute not only to keeping our society good and decent, but also to constituting the new heaven and the new earth, which will be inaugurated at Christ's return.
We Christians believe not only in the immortality of the soul, but in the resurrection of the body and the worth of material creation.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
