• 18th Ordinary (C), August 5, 2007
• Theme: Pleasing Before God

• As I have prayed and studied these readings over the course of the week, two questions seem to echo through them all –
• “As a person of faith, how do I want to be remembered after I am gone?”
• “What and who are really important to me?”

• We are in the middle of the summer season
• Picnics, barbecues and beaches come to the forefront of our consciousness.
• We want a distraction from the grim thoughts that seem constantly on our minds these days:
• The world is in painful conflict;
• The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
• This week’s bridge collapse in Minneapolis
• All this, plus the usual pressures of our personal lives -
• We need a break yet Qoheleth, in our Ecclesiastes reading, doesn’t seem inclined to give it to us as he drones,
• “Vanity of vanities….All things are vanity!”
• Thanks a lot Qoheleth!

• Ecclesiastes is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Qoheleth (one who convokes an assembly).
• Today’s first reading is the opening of his book and it begins with a big challenge:
• What and where we place our security may not be as secure as we think. “All things are vanity!”
• The book’s basic point of view is that life is ultimately futile if viewed apart from God.

• Qoheleth looked out at the world around him and saw too much complacency and dishonesty.
• He saw that political leaders would not address injustices.
• He saw those that his society called “wise,” were actually only people who had excessive trust in their own arrogant pronouncements.
• Qoheleth attacks the conventional wisdom of the world in which he lived about three centuries before Christ; but he could just as easily be describing our 21st century as well.

• In the Gospel reading from the book of Luke, we hear another of Jesus’ parables.
• The parable begins very well.
• Who wouldn’t want to be in the man’s position?
• He is rich and getting even richer;
• His land has produced a “bountiful harvest.”
• In our imagination we can picture his house and his estate,
• His well stocked kitchen flowing with delicacies,
• His jam packed wardrobes and closets
• He feels secure.
• His only problem is that his barns are not big enough for additional incoming wealth.
• It’s like telling a person that they have won ten million dollars in the lottery.
• But they have to figure out how to spend it
• Rough life.
• Then comes the kicker, just when everything seemed so perfect, a verdict is passed on the landowner’s whole life by God:
• “You fool, this night your life shall be demanded of you and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?”

• But this isn’t a parable just for the very rich and comfortable.
• Look at our world today and our ordinary perspective:
• When we say, “You can’t take it with you when you go,” but then we turn around and die trying.
• When the beer commercial tell us, “It doesn’t get any better than this” while showing a bunch of adults drinking and acting like teenagers, we have to at least wonder if there really is nothing more than this to live for.
• Who among us hasn’t had a sudden change happen in our lives that throws us completely off balance? —
• The midnight phone call that breaks the news of the sudden death of a loved one;
• A job loss;
• A child who makes a foolish life altering choice;
• A catastrophic illness;
• A divorce, etc
• When the sudden and unexpected happen we are tested and challenged:
• Where were our riches?
• On whom or what did we place our security?
• Life can take cruel turns and toss our world upside down and leave us in turmoil and insecurity.

• Those two questions come back again:
• “As a person of faith, how do I want to be remembered after I am gone?”
• “What and who are really important to me?”

• We might approach the questions by reflecting on the riches that God has given us, especially the important people in our lives, those whom we love and who love us
• This reflection might help guide us to make the sacrifices we want to make for another.
• We might decide to deal with a hurt that we have had and find a way to seek healing.
• We might ask ourselves, how much do I really need in my life and what can I give away to those who lack the basics?
• We might ask, Do we take time to work? Play? Be with people we love, family and friends? Pray? Read? Laugh?
• What are we neglecting in our lives?

• The challenge at the end of the day is Not What Do We Posses, but rather What Posses Us?
• As we continue with this liturgy, let us ask the Lord to take possession of us.
• Let us also ask for the wisdom to value what is really important in our lives.
• Let us pray that with the help of the Holy Spirit that we might always make the best life decisions before God, both for ourselves and for those we love.

• Amen