Homily For Monday Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 17th October, 2022. The Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch

 Readings: Eph 2:1:10, Ps.100, Luke 12:13-21

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LEARN TO DETACH AND SHARE YOUR WORLDLY POSSESSIONS WITH OTHERS

There is no doubt that material things of this passing world is very necessary for our well-being. In fact they are gifts from God and he alone gives us the right to them. But what we possess is meant to help us grow in our relationship with God and neighours not to separate us from them, because if we are not careful, too much love for material possession can be an obstacle on our way towards God’s Kingdom. Little wonder Jesus in our Gospel passage today warns us against covetousness and excessive attachment to worldly possessions. This he greatly emphasized with the story of the rich Man Harvest. 

In this story a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” But God said to him, “Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then.

Here, Jesus tells his disciples about the need to live a life of detachment. He used this story to teach his disciples and all of us about the futility of worldly desires and it’s pursuits. Thereby showing us the foolishness of human greed, as well as pride and ego. For in this man we see the uselessness of human selfishness, covetousness and excess desire for worldly possession, as he constantly focused only on himself saying I will do this, I will do that, ‘my goods, my fruits, my barns, my soul, etc, without any interest or room for his neighbours or the poor. He has no thought of God, nor of his own servants. If he had looked a little beyond himself, he would have seen many places where he could have bestowed his crops.  Thus, there is need for us to constantly prune ourselves from excess love for material possession of this passing world. 

The fact remains, that, material possessions in themselves are good, for we would not survive for long without them, but excess attachment to it at the expense of eternal life is grade one suicide. No doubt, it is difficult to give out or share our possession, but the ones who give up everything are the ones who receives more in this life as well as in heaven. For St. Paul tells us in our first reading that, we all like those in the past are living sensual lives, ruled entirely by our own physical desires and our own ideas; so that by nature we were as much under God’s anger as the rest of the world. But God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ.

Dear friends, detaching and sharing what we possess with others especially the poor is a sure way to finding life, peace, happiness. And Jesus is telling us that it will be difficult for us to enter his kingdom when we choose to attach ourselves in the riches of this passing world. Though material possessions are gifts from God and he alone gives us the right to have them, but what we possess is not meant to separate us from God, rather, they should help us to grow in our relationship with God and neighours.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we are living in a world where materialism is the order of the day, through the intercessions of St Ignatius of Antioch help us to learn how to live a life of detachment and prune us always from the sin of covetousness and pride, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a blessed week.