The Curse Of Accumulating
This is taken from the Oxi Espiritual daily reading and reflection. It is in Spanish, so here it is translated and edited for the English speaking audience. Link at the end.
From Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23
Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill,
and yet to another who has not labored over it, he must leave property.
This also is vanity and a great misfortune.
For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart
with which he has labored under the sun?
All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation; even at night his mind is not at rest.
This also is vanity."
Reading 2
Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11
"Brothers and sisters:
If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.
Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.
Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator.
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all."
Gospel
Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,
“Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.”
He replied to him, “Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?”
Then he said to the crowd, “Take care to guard against all greed,
for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”
Then he told them a parable.
“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’
But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.”
Discussion
Well, These readings of today bring a very human
teaching, don't they? We human beings care, and we strive to work, to
accumulate, to “get rich.” And its fine to have some of the
worldly wealth we all want. But we may not stop to ask... “Then
what - to leave it to whom?”
Often the answer to that
question is, "Oh, to leave it to the children, or to the family,
etc.."
Okay, that is nice, very honorable. But all your
effort leads to a life that is flat – for them. You may say, "I'm
gonna give them everything I never had. I'm helping them; I'm going
to support them.”
Except we run two risks with this.
Number one, they don't value what you've put into their
hands.
They don't respect it.
They don't understand how much
you gave up, just to give it to them.
How many times does it
happen that parents work their whole lives at companies,
at businesses, on the house..., so many things...thinking about the
children. But, the children don't respect that effort and energy and
end up squandering and wasting the wealth?
Or, number two,
the wealth that was accumulated over a lifetime becomes a reason for
division, for fighting, for anger and animosity among the inheritors.
They squabble over a piece of land, for some bauble or item, or over a
little money that they'll burn through anyway.
Instead of all
this the first thing one should have on his mind is the happiness and
tranquility that comes from Heaven. Yes, I said, “from heaven.”
It is very nice that you worked hard, and you didn't spend
and waste everything. Good job. But, did you seek to be at peace with
God, without making your life so complicated.
Did you seek to
store up a treasure in heaven, also?
We think about the
future, when our life will end – and we think that putting the
future of our children or family on a silver platter will help them.
No.
If you want to help them..., push them, teach them, give
them the gift of a life in God, and make THEM work for what they
have.
Don't sacrifice your life and health, your happiness, your
peace, your own eternal life, to flatten the way for others. Thats a
bad idea.
This is where the first
reading comes in to play and says, "What good is that to you?"
You don't know if your children are going to be interested, if
they're going to take care of your bequeathment, if they'll care at
all. Too often, you are leave the world with nothing, and they end up
begging and dying, too.
So, first, look for the good from
above. Seek that happiness, that inner peace of God, that we often
lose because we are too focused on accumulating, on having more, on
obtaining just to leave it behind.
Then comes the Gospel.
Here, a man asks Jesus to make his brother share their inheritance.
See, the greed and division there?
Well, Jesus, rightly say, “Who
am I to be judge over your inheritances? You should be focused on
your heavenly inheritance!”
Okay, well, how should you handle whatever inheritance you may leave behind?
Simple.
Make sure that when you die, whatever you DO have in the
way of worldly wealth – and it should'nt be too much – make sure
that everything is clearly stated.
In writing. In a legal
will wherever possible.
Because, too often, people say things like, “When I die,
I'll leave them the house and my stuff to help them.”
Huh? No,
Dad, don't do that.
Write it all down. Who gets the doors? The
windows? The rice cooker? The boat or the lawnmower? And so
on.
Because you will not tempt the Lord, your God. And for the
love of money or possessions, a man, any man – even a beloved son -
can be divided by that kind of love.
I say it often, and I'll
repeat it, now:
Greed and the desire to have - or the fear of
losing – splits everything and everyone asunder.
So, if you have a
house, for example, don't leave it floating in the air as a promise.
No,
write it down. Record an video, a letter, a legal will. Get your
family together, if needs be and make it clear. Because this is very
important. Many families split up, and fight for this reason.
Do you want your
“kindness” to be the reason for that?
And believe it or not, this sort of attitude can lead to even worse things.
It happens many
times that as the parents accumulate things and possessions for their
kids, while they work their fingers to the bone – they are
inattentive to the family.
So the kids are left adrift, without
spiritual and parental guidance.
Before long, they become
bored with their “flat life” of ease, and things like drugs,
alcohol, pornography, and dissolute living...these creep in.
How many
times have you seen a rotten kid whose parents are rich and give him
everything?
Why? Because it comes from creating what I call a,
“vague family.”
The parents end up raising lazy, bored,
insolent and entitled kids who fall into all kinds of vices, because they have nothing to do and they respect none of what has put into their hands The moms and dads are doing donkey work, while the
kid is getting high, “hanging out with friends,” partying and
drinking, on the internet,... all to entertain himself.
The parents kept their nose to the grindstone and did none of that, saying, “I work
for my children to have everything,” but that word – everything -
includes sex, drugs and alcohol. How diabolical is that popular expression?!
Maybe you should just say, “Im working hard to give them
up to the vices and pleasures of the world. Sex, drugs, and alcohol,
baby!”
Their marriages are an disaster. They split up, they come
back, they leave the children, pick it up again, take a woman, they
throw her out, take another one, they are on drugs, they're at all
the parties... and so on. And why?
Their donkey parents made it all
possible.
So, let's ask the Lord for the wisdom to NOT give
silver trays so easily, but to give what counts. As we build
families, let us build human beings, not monsters who value nothing.
You never fell into these vices, because you were building your
future, but now you're killing yourself to build a future for others ... and you don't know if they're going to value it.
Or, that they may end up
in the vices you avoided.
Let us ask God to give us wisdom to take the right action in this matter. Teach us to push our kids, our families, in the right ways. Let us proclaim and live the life of Christ for them, to give them a solid, ethical foundation based on the works of heaven.
Also, teach us to enjoy what we have, today, to generously bless others with our
surplus, and to thank the Lord for it all, so that we might
die a good and happy death.
Glory be to the Father, the Son
and the Spirit Holy. As it was in the beginning, now and always,
forever and ever. Amen. The Lord be with you. The blessing of
almighty God, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit descend upon you and
always accompany me. Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
The original version can be found here...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GncU-22d1LQ
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