Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time C. August 1, 2004. Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30. Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23. Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11. Luke 1213-21.

Pets teach us many things. I have been amazed at the unchanging joy my dog shows when he sees me no matter who else is happening. When we have a little spat, Shadrack is always the one who wants to make up immediately. Even at their best, pets also teach us about the results of original sin. They show us what happens when we live by animal instincts and desires. Three weeks ago I brought home an adult female Great Pyrenees dog from the Humane Society. She was malnourished and had been abandoned. She was very scared. Shadrack proceeded to terrorize her. He never laid a tooth on her. He is much too refined for that. He decided that all the food in the yard belonged to him. No matter what I did, he would growl and bark and chase the new dog away from the food with a mighty show of strength. Even though he is normally a very obedient dog, no matter what I said, he would block Nala’s access to the food. What made me angry is that Shadrack didn’t understand that the food, all the food, is mine, not his. Without my generosity Shadrack would soon starve. Yet he tried to horde everything for himself and would not let me be generous to others. Without grace we would act much the same way. Even though he is only an animal Shadrack is often an example of life in the flesh after original sin.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden the wants and desires of the flesh took charge of their lives. For the first time they saw themselves as naked and they were filled with shame. For the first time they argued with one another and pointed the finger of guilt at one another. Blame and shame, murder and lust, greed and selfishness all entered the world when Adam and Eve lost their intimate connection with God. The moment they sinned in the garden they forgot who the universe really belonged to and they began to steal God’s place in creation and to grasp at the things of creation as if they belonged to them and not to God.

Jesus told his disciple a parable: “There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, ‘What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?’ And he said, ‘This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, ‘Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!” “But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you, and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” Jesus said, “Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”

Grace lifts our minds and hearts to God. Grace gives us a share in God’s own life. Grace allows us to see the world as God sees the world. Grace empowers us to touch others with the generosity and goodness of God. Grace makes us givers and sharers of the gifts of life and creations and not hoarders of them.

In today’s second reading St. Paul tells us, “If you were raised up with Christ, 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… Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and the greed that is idolatry.”

Recently I heard the story of a priest who was given a beautiful lake cabin by his aunt and uncle when they died. It was a couple of hundred miles from his parish and he made numerous trips to the cabin to keep it in good shape and to enjoy it when he could. Late one night he got a call from the police that the cabin burglar alarm had gone off and they wanted him to come and check on things as soon as possible. He drove frantically through the night. When he got there he found that a squirrel had set off the alarm – everything was all right. As he sunk into a chair he realized that the cabin had begun to dominate his life. Strangely, it had become a kind of a god that demanded so much attention that he was neglecting the true God and his ministry to God’s people. Even though he knew that a cabin is a very good thing, he also realized that it had taken over his life – it was no longer something that was leading him to God. St. Paul tells us to avoid “the greed that is idolatry” –worship of a false God. He decided to sell his cabin.

The new icon in our sanctuary reminds us about what being rich in what matters to God means. An icon is a picture prayer. It is the word of God given to us in a way that we can see it. The Catholic tradition is rich in images that bring God’s Word to our souls through our eyes. In this icon St. John, the beloved disciple, is resting his head against the chest of Jesus at the Last Supper. He is placing his head close to the heart of Christ as he listens to the desires of the divine heart of Jesus. The only way that we will know what matters to God is by listening to the heart of Jesus. Some things are obviously wrong; murder, stealing and adultery are among them. We do not usually think of wealth, even great wealth, as a sin, and it is not, except when it becomes our god and distracts us from worship and from sharing God’s goodness with our neighbors and the needy and poor of the world. Doing what matters to God involves much more than keeping the Ten Commandments. Being rich in what matters to God means listening to the heart of Christ so that what Christ wants we want, and what Christ has done we seek also to do.

“Vanity of vanities and all things are vanity”. All things are passing away if we are not listening to the heart of Christ and seeking what truly matters to God. For the wisdom to seek what is above where Christ is, we give God thanks and praise.