Today, both our First Reading and the Gospel confront the dangerous illusion of self-sufficiency. They confront the notion that we human beings feel we have acquired so much power, fame, and wealth that we no longer need God in our lives! It is the illusion we see in the life of the Prince of Tyre who acquired so much wealth and power that he declared: “I am a god!” It is the difficulty the Lord addresses when he said, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
Human history has shown that whenever individuals, families, and even countries become so successful in wealth, power, and fame, they grow so comfortable that they start questioning whether they still need God in their lives! It is at that point that you start to see celebrities who were raised in the Church, educated by the Church, and given a big head start in life, stop attending Church.
Everyone Needs God
It is in the zone of self-sufficiency that countries whose faith in God helped shape them into what they became start questioning why God or matters of faith need to be taught in schools. It is out of a desire to protect their wealth that families who were poor and made it in life through a lot of prayer and the grace of God now prefer to donate large sums of money to political candidates rather than support the Church and her charitable causes.
My brothers and sisters, the problem is not so much the wealth, the power, or the fame – the problem is in being possessed by any of these elements. The problem is allowing any of these to get into our heads and hearts, and to fill our hands, so that “we no longer possess empty hands” to receive anything from God! We need to intentionally and consistently pray for the “grace of the empty hands.”
In our formation into religious life, we are taught an important attitude of the heart – the attitude of “detachment.” It is an attitude of the heart in which one can be surrounded by wealth, fame, or power, yet does not allow any of it to define who they are or determine what they consider important. Of course, broken—like other human beings, sometimes we learn detachment well, and other times we struggle with it!
What is Weighing Us Down
Today is a good day to ask ourselves: What is it that I am holding onto that I need to let go of and allow God to fill my hands? In what areas of my life do I need to surrender control in order to embrace a poverty of spirit that trusts God more than myself?
May we in this Mass ask the Lord to relieve us of any unnecessary “baggage” we carry. May we ask Him to relieve us of any pride, any self-righteousness, or any forms of distorted worldly wisdom that tells us that we are self-sufficient and no longer need to rely on God. Amen
