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(3rd August 2025) Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

READ: (Eccl 1:2; 2: 21-23; Col 3: 1-5, 9-11; Lk 12: 13-21)

REFLECT: Free offer of God - Eternal Life…

Dear friends, we are on the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The liturgy of the word lays emphasis on eternal life that God offers us always. We as Christians believe that God offers us eternal life. God offers us freely without expecting anything in return. It is not our merit to inherit eternal life but God offers us through his grace because he loves us unconditionally. Moreover, this eternal life is a life that begins from the time we enter into relationship with God; it is a transformed life; it is a life of fellowship and friendship with God; it brings safety and security to ourselves with God forever. So based on the readings of the day, I would like to share with you three points of reflection as how we could find eternal life in God;

1. Entrust everything to God:

‘When our trust is in God, we entrust everything to God’ is a thoughtful quote that affects life closely with God. Entrusting to God everything would mean that we trust God and believe in his plans and promises. We look up to God for help and support and we are firm in it. That’s the trust and confidence we have in God. It is an act of total surrender to God. We cast upon God our cares, worries, troubles, tensions, happiness, joys, good events of life. We don’t take credit for anything or we don’t care about the negativities of life, because our trust is in God. To such a calling is what the first reading pushes us forward.

The first reading from Ecclesiastes expresses the frustration and a deep sorrow of a person working diligently and giving all achievements to the one who has not toiled for it at all. It is an expression of pain and anxiety, very specially the one who has worked hard for a deeper meaning in life. At last experiencing no due reward for the work one has really labored. The following phrases are examples for it, ‘His days are full of pain and his work a vexation’, and ‘Even in the night his mind does not rest.’

First of all we need to understand that every human person experiences vanity in life. They are common and natural. We could call it dryness in life. Such experiences only reveal the momentary or temporary nature of our worldly experiences and pursuits that do not endure forever. These could be identified with the material things of the world that cannot fulfill the longings of the human heart. It is only subject to change but the spiritual longings of the human heart for God would give ample opportunities and access to experience real meaning and happiness in life. So let us be clear that a life without God is empty and meaningless. Secondly, wisdom and labor are to be respected and acknowledged in life, because they help us. What the writer of Ecclesiastes from the first reading condemns is the selfishness and self-gain from the worldly wisdom and labor is condemned because wisdom and labor are used to identify the self and not God, who is the ultimate giver of wisdom and labor of life.

Today we need to realize that the worldly concerns are meaningless and they are temporary only. So we need not only confront, rather we have to care for those empty spots of life which are centered only on work, possessions, positions and human achievement. Let us remember the all time question for reflection in life, “What on earth am I living for.” The human mind and heart gets weary and worried unnecessarily on various grounds we run after like petty fights, meaningless friendship, unreasonable attachments and desires, unreachable dreams and wishes that only end up without giving meaning and happiness in life.

It is a call for decentralizing our ideologies of life based on the world. It is a time to centralize or recentralize our ideology and beliefs in God firmly for a meaningful life. It is a realization and focus in God our soul is at rest and reawakened for the newness of life. Centralizing our beliefs in God and for a focus on Godly values, we need to detach ourselves from materialism that burdens and hinders us to come closer to God. Let us remember that life is short but it can be constant and continued for eternity, if we align our lives according to God’s will and his plans. Let us not chase after temporary success and recognition of the world rather eternal life that God offers us in love.

As Pope Leo XIV very well underscored, “you will find an answer to that deep question you carry within you: what is the meaning of my life? Therefore, the Pope stressed, “let’s not be discouraged! Even in the dark moments of life, when time passes without giving us the answers we seek, let us ask the Lord to come out again and find us where we are waiting for Him, for He is generous, and He will come soon.”  Yes, if we want to find meaning in life, we need to turn to God and trust in God’s plan and providence. Let us not worry about the situational and circumstantial crises and sufferings rather believe and entrust our care upon God always.

2. To set our hearts on God:

‘To set our hearts on God,’ would mean that we make God the center of life. By making God the center of life, we let go all our desires, dreams, wishes, and wants for the glory of God. We manifest in our wills, desires, feelings and character God and godliness. Indeed, it is a totality of life directed towards God at all times, where we love God whole-heartedly and faithfully. Something similar thought pattern, we find in the second reading of the day, enabling us to live for Christ and manifest Christ in all that we do or say.

The second reading from St. Paul’s letter to Colossians very powerfully highlights to seek on the things that are above, where Christ is and where Christ calls us to be. It is an invitation to put an end to all that is worldly and earthly, which St. Paul calls sinful desires like immortality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed. He calls these sinful desires idolatry. It has become a form of worship in life, where we have given utmost importance and are unable to come out of these sinful desires. Thus, St. Paul reminds us of our unity and identity with God, our creator in Christ Jesus, saying ‘To put off the old self and put on the new self, the nature of Christ in us’. He says this, so that the renewed life would not create divisions based on Greeks or Jews, slave or free, rich or poor, because the base is Christ. When Christ is in all, Christ becomes the center, the rest is not required to be united with God, because in Christ we are all equals in dignity as children of God.

Today we need to understand the visible signs of new life that God offers us in Christ Jesus. The sacraments that we receive and the church offers us give an opportunity to renew our relationship with Christ, but we fail to focus on it. The prayer and virtues which enable us to get in touch with the divine is taken lightly and are not given importance. These are our failures, by which our heart takes undue attachment and desire on the worldly that is more pleasant to our senses. If we want to understand the importance of prayer, sacraments, godly values and virtues, then we need to set our hearts on the above that anchors our life with God. So let us examine life today as where we have tied our desires and interests. Is it pride, anger, anxiety, addictions that downplay our role as followers of Christ or prayer, which unites us with God?

In fact, we need to cross check whether our identity is based on human made divisions like races, cultures, color, beliefs, status and power or positions in life or our identity as Christians bind our unity with Christ play a vital role. Let pride replace it with prayer and prejudices replace it with patience in accepting others as they are and as Children of God. All these attempts would enable us to make a u-turn in life in focusing our lives heavenward. Let us make spiritual goals higher priority than the comfort and success that the world offers; let us begin the day and end the day with prayer, making prayer as part of life; let us promote peace and reconciliation, love and forgiveness in families and societies, establishing good relationships and renewal of filial and fraternal bonds; finally, let us die to sin and rise to new life in Christ by putting on Christ and putting of the old self that is damaged in sin. I am sure, when we do attempts such as these, we could make Christ live in us and we in Christ always.

3. To seek eternal life

We all know ‘to seek eternal life’ would mean to abide in relationship with God forever. To seek eternal life has been the aspiration and desire of everyone. Perhaps, no one would miss this chance, because it is a life lived forever. However, it is not about wishing for or seeking for, what’s really required is deep love and union with God, holiness of life and following up of the precepts of God. Thus, this offer of eternal life is open to all, provided, we follow the precepts and design our lives according to God’s will. That’s what we have in the gospel reading of the day that offers us to inherit eternal life by seeking for it with a heart of generosity and goodwill of others.

The gospel reading presents before us a warning against greed and lack of generosity to share the resources with others that God has blessed us abundantly. The parable of the rich fool is the apt answer from Jesus for those who accumulate wealth and possession, who believe in riches of the world more than the providence and generosity of God in life. The rich man in the parable is a failure because he fails to acknowledge with gratitude for all the resources he has; he is a failure because he fails to share the resources with others; he is a failure because his focus was on self for selfish gains and purposes.

We all know that one of the seven deadly sins is avarice, which is greed. Greed is an attitude of wanting more for oneself for selfish gains. It is an attachment that ties with the riches and wealth of the world rather than the riches and wealth God offers us. That’s why Jesus warns the rich fool in the parable that wealth in itself is not wrong but wealth overtaking the place of God and his people, using it for selfish purposes is faulty and does not promote anyone to eternal life. The rich fool in the parable did not find security in God, rather he wished to build a store-room, wherein he could store up treasures more. His failure was to find security in the store-room surrounded by walls, where grains are kept but not God the giver of safety and security of the things in life is ignored.

Another aspect from the parable, where the rich man family is his service and responsibility. We see in the parable of the rich fool that he has forgotten his role of service and responsibility to his brothers and sisters or neighbors. The least care for others has made the rich fool in the parable a failure to obtain eternal life. He planned how he could be happy and joyful forever, but he forgot others as he was submerged in greed for wealth and riches as how others could be happy and joyful too; he forgot his responsibility to share with others what he has. That could be our failure too to obtain eternal life.

Today what hampers our lives or becomes an obstacle to eternal life is our self-centeredness and spiritual blindness that fails to see God as the giver of everything in life. As Mahatma Gandhi has very aptly said, “the world has everything for one’s need and not for everyone’s greed,” we need to realize that earth offers from the goodness of God, whatever we need but we fail to share with others what the earth offers us from the abundance of God. It is a call to look at everyone’s needs rather than personal greed. Personal greed can be overcome, provided we practice generosity in life. It is not what we share or how much we give but with a good heart and intention we give. We must feel that it is not a quantity of giving that matters rather our quality of giving matters a lot. Let us be generous not only in terms of money but even our talents, gifts, and time, which offer unending joy to people. Let us practice generosity, for God loves the cheerful giver and not a sorrowful giver or a cheerful receiver for the sake of accumulation. Let us remember that when we give others, God gives us plenty in abundance, for God looks at our heart.

That’s what Pope Leo would say, “Eternal life is not something to be gained by force, begged for or negotiated. It is something to be inherited by God alone, as parents do with their children. In order to live eternally, we do not need to cheat death, but to serve life, by caring for others in this, our time together. That is the supreme law that is prior to all society’s rules and gives them their meaning.” Yes, let us believe that eternal life to humanity is the free and sure offer of God’s love and plan for us. Let us then care for one another and share our resources and gifts to find meaning in life.

RESPOND:

Do we entrust our plans and projects on God’s blessings or rely on the human power that does not last forever?

Do we set our hearts on God, the spiritual aspect of life or do we set our hearts on the worldly aspects of life?

Do we seek eternal life that God offers us freely and lovingly or do we seek after temporary pleasures, success and satisfaction in life?

Let us entrust everything to God, set our hearts on God and seek eternal life that offers us unending joy. Amen.

God bless us all! Live Jesus!