Just how rich are we? Better worry about getting through the eye of a needle!
(10-11-2009)
With the October focus on Respect Life, the Church realizes all of us need reminders of the life issues that threaten rightful moral judgments and easily cloud Christian perspectives. We need ongoing education of Church teachings in light of issues, often politicized in media, as well as the nuances of scientific development in such areas as stem cell research and human genetic alteration. We need to inform our conscience and stand up for our faith against the large issues of abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia—assisted suicide –issues that challenge the moral fiber of a society where many see life as so easily disposable.
There are many other aspects of life challenges that can also be deadly and immoral—like elder abuse, indifference toward the plight of immigrants, people suffering in poverty and lacking food medical care, in this the richest nation in the world.
We often think of “doing good” for others, but often it’s within our comfort zone. At times, we even can disconnect from the humanity involved in our so-called good deeds. The deed becomes the thing, not an act of compassionate service for the person who is need.
But Jesus tells us we’ve got it backwards. Serving others gives us the chance to live the faith we claim. "Brothers and sisters", he says to us, "you can't do anything nearly as important for people in need as they can do for you.” For they are not charity cases or objects of pity, but sisters and brothers in the family of Jesus—they are relatives that can make us so uncomfortable. Why? Primarily because we do not want to be reminded of how comfortable we are compared to most people in the world. Please Jesus don’t make me feel guilty! What is causing the guilt?
When Jesus talks about it being more difficult for the rich to enter heaven than a camel to go through the eye of a needle and then says "but with God all things are possible"; there's a twist to the story. Jesus is doing more than telling us a metaphor about how to live our lives. Jesus words are an invitation to recognize a couple of things. The first is to recognize that, by any scale which is sane, we are the wealthy ones, materially speaking.
Anurahdi Vittachi [Earth Conference One: Sharing a Vision for Our Planet,1989] asks us to imagine the world as a village with one hundred families. She writes:
"If this metaphorical village consists of 100 families, 65 cannot read. Some 80 families have no members who have flown on airplanes and seventy have no drinking water at home. About sixty families occupy ten per cent of the village while just seven own sixty percent of the land. Only one family has a university education."
Now how rich are we?
The second invitation of Jesus is to look at wants versus needs. I think it is safe to say that at times we have all wanted to have - the best, the fastest, the latest, the most important, the most expensive - of whatever it happens to be. However, there are people we know whereby keeping up is a consuming passion. It's also a terrific burden, this notion that we're not fulfilled unless we've kept up with the people down the block. Jesus is warning us about that danger. But he's doing something far more radical—asking us to examine our view of people in need—and how we do so is the true reflection of our morality and goodness. For God knows why so many remain living in need while others continue to consume their wants.
And IF we commit ourselves to the faithful, daily struggle to see others as our Lord sees them-- Not as problems, or annoyances or difficulties or as statistics - but as children in God's family—worthy of being sisters and brothers with us, we will do “more for the kingdom here and not worry about the hereafter.”
Being rich or wealthy is not a sin—it is how we spend and live the richness that makes the difference.
When we get to heaven, we can be certain entrance won’t be based on possessions but on how we used them.
Blessings, Fr. Gordon
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