Keep Our Priorities Straight

Scriptures insist that we keep our priorities straight, to root our values in God’s wisdom and not to be deceived by the ways of our materialistic world. In today’s gospel, Jesus warns us to guard against the vice of greed, for “one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

​He then tells a parable about a man preoccupied with his wealth. Despite all he owns, all his comforts, this man is anxious and intent on piling up far more riches. While his storehouses were full and he mistakenly thought he needed bigger ones, Jesus makes it clear that at the core of his being was an emptiness. Jesus concludes by saying that what matters is not our earthly treasures, but to be “rich in what matters to God.” Qoheleth in the first reading shares the same wisdom in speaking of the ultimate vanity of earthly possessions. And St. Paul tells the Colossians, and tells us: “…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.” 

What do we make of these unsettling challenges? Not all of us in the Church are called to evangelical poverty for the 
sake of the Kingdom of God. There are those among us in the Body of Christ who do take the vow of poverty – precisely as an expression of faith in God’s providence. Those who live this vow witness to us all of the values that matter most and of the passing nature of earthly possessions. We as individuals, as well as the world as a whole, need that witness. But while the vast majority of us are not called to renounce possessions for the sake of Christ, we are called to an evangelical simplicity of life. We are called to make sure that our possessions never begin to possess us. 

Christianity has always needed to be countercultural. It was so in the Roman Empire in the first generations of our 
Church and has been again and again down through history in different times and cultures. Yet, it is also true that all too often members of the Church, including leaders of the Church, have betrayed that mission. The ways of the world can so easily subvert our thinking and action. It is not that the things of the world are evil. Far from it, God created our world and wants us to be blessed by its bounty. But when the things of this world push God aside, when our values are rooted more in our culture than in the gospel, we have lost our way. 

The greed against which Jesus warned certainly includes greed for material possessions, but there are other kinds of 
greed. We can be greedy for control and so begin to manipulate and use others, greedy for attention and adulation and fall into jealousy, we can be greedy for comfort and be unwilling to make sacrifices or make excuses for our indifference. 

The refrain from today’s Responsorial Psalm reminds us, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” This 
week let’s pause and open our hearts, let’s engage in profound reflection on our values and priorities. Do we seek first
the Kingdom of God? Do our lived priorities reflect the values of our Catholic faith? Are our attitudes and behavior 
pretty much the same as those of our contemporaries around us, or does our discipleship of Jesus inspire us to think and act differently? Jesus calls us to conversion of heart, mind and action. Jesus calls us to love God above all else and to love one another as he loved us. Let’s each ask ourselves: “Have the ways of our world diverted me from this path?”

If so, let’s take the challenge of Jesus to heart and begin the process of repentance and renewal. 
Jesus, may we treasure you and your ways and grow to be rich in the things of God. Holy Mary, who always sought and followed God’s will in your life, help us to do the same.