Homily for Tuesday Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 20th August, 2024. The Memorial of St Bernard

 

Readings: Ezek.28:1-10, Deut.32:26-36, Matt. 19:23-30

Rev.  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

 

LEARN TO BE HUMBLE AND DETACHED FROM THE MATERIAL RICHES OF THIS PASSING WORLD

 

The rate at which people illegally acquire and are attached to material things of this passing world is so alarming, and this has serious consequences towards the well-being of the common man in society. However, material possessions 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 our neighbours, not to separate us from them, because if we are not careful, too much love for material possessions can be an obstacle on our way to God’s Kingdom.

 

Little wonder Jesus, in our Gospel passage today, says:  “I tell you solemnly, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Yes, I tell you again, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven”. When the disciples heard this they were astonished. And they said, “Who can be saved, then?” Jesus gazed at them and said, “For men, this is impossible; for Go,d, everything is possible”.

 

Here, Jesus tells his disciples about the need to live a life of detachment. They saw how the rich young man was so sad when Jesus demanded that he should share his possessions with others in order to acquire treasures in heaven by following him. Thus, there is a need for us to be pruned from our excess love for material possessions because, for a camel to enter through a narrow gate, it must kneel in order for its load to be taken off. We, too, must learn how to be humbled and detach ourselves from excess attachment to material things 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 them at the expense of eternal life is grade-one suicide. No doubt, it is difficult to give out or share our possessions, but the ones who give up everything are the ones who receive more in this life as well as in heaven. And prophet Ezekiel, in our first reading, warns us concerning the issue of pride, for most of us, like the people of Tyre who, because of their possessions, are being swollen with pride, see ourselves as gods, while we are nothing but a mere instrument in God’s hands.

 

Dear friends, what is your attitude towards the material things of this passing world? How have the material things of this passing world distracted us from God?  Are we still detached from the material things of this passing world? How willing are we to detach and share what we possess with others, especially the poor? This is a sure way to find life, peace and happiness.

 

And Jesus is telling us that it will be difficult for us to enter his kingdom when we choose to attach ourselves to the riches of this passing world. Though material possessions are gifts from God and he alone gives us the right to have them as his manners. However, what we possess as managers is not meant to separate us from God; rather, it should help us to grow in our relationship with God and our neighbours.

 

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