Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time July 31 – August 1, 2010

There is the story of a wealthy man. He had a mansion on the east coast and one in California, He had a penthouse in New York and one in Chicago, not to mention his vacation homes in Hawaii and the French Rivera. He was a very important and well respected business man.

Known for his wise investments and planning for future security which allowed him to live in these beautiful homes in the lap of luxury. One day he died in a car accident while driving his Mercedes and doing business at the same time on his cell phone. He goes to heaven and meets St. Peter. St. Peter said because he was a decent man that he would be allowed in. Peter said he would take him to his mansion.

He looked forward to his mansion in heaven as he knew many beautiful ones on earth and knew these could be a million times greater. Indeed St. Peter took him down a street of gold past many beautiful mansions with beautiful manicured gardens, one more exquisite than the other, he was greatly impressed and wondered which of these was his. Then they went down a road of silver which had some regular looking homes with beautiful lawns and rose bushes but he knew his mansion would not be one of these.

Then they went down a street of bronze with what looked like lake and hunting cabins surrounded by wild flowers. They were cute and rustic like living in a vacation cabin would be fun to live in but he knew he was not to live in one of these.

Then they turned down a gravel road. The manicured lawns and gardens were replaced with rough wild looking terrain and the end of this road was a pile of boards. St. Peter said “Here we are, here is your mansion!” The man was shocked but then thought, “Oh I understand, because of the car accident, I am here early while it is still under construction, I was not expected this soon! When will it be done?”

St. Peter said, “No we knew you were coming today, there is no more construction to be done, This IS your mansion!” “How can this be?” said the rich man. “You see you were known for your wise investments and planning for the future, but you forgot to plan for your eternal future, you were not eternally wise and did not invest in for your future here. You see your mansion is what you gave to God and others in your lifetime. You gave only to yourself, these few board is all you gave to God and to God through your charity to others. This is all you get, this IS your mansion!”

This is what our readings speak about today. Do we plan for our eternal futures as we plan for our earthly futures which last only a few years. Our first Reading Qoheleth says “Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! Here is one who labored with wisdom and knowledge, and skill, and yet to another who has not labored over it, he must leave his property!”

Jesus was asked in the Gospel: “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” Jesus uses this a time to teach a lesson against greed: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” “One’s life does not consist of possessions.” Then he tells the parable of the wealthy farmer who died with a greater harvest than his barns and bins could handle so he builds bigger ones so he can retire in luxury. But like the wealthy man in the story above he did not prepare for his eternal future. All he had worked for was given to others.

How often we think our lives consist of possessions especially in materialist consumer America. We are judged by our possessions, how many we have, the quality of them, how great are our investments. And we forget about the importance of our spiritual lives as we prepare only for our material lives.

How often don’t couples begin poor, getting their first furniture at auctions and estate sales and maybe live in a small trailer house or small “fixer upper” or “handyman’s dream” as the real estate agents like to euphemistically like to put it. Then after a few years they give up their trailer house or small house to build a new house and get new furnishings to stock their home with, with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and a master bedroom whose closet is the size of their former bedroom as they show on TV.

Here they live for a number of years and raise their children, but them time catches up with them and they go from a 3 bedroom house to a one bedroom assisted living apartment - and have to get rid of the many things they have gathered because it won’t fit in their new home.

Then time passes and age says they need to move into a nursing home at which they can keep a favorite chair and some family photos and the rest has to go. Then they return to God buried with a rosary and a few photos and pictures drawn by their great grandchildren. Everything is gone of all they possessed. Most of it is thrown out as useless junk by the children who have their own things and don’t need their parents furniture. I know of all the things my parents had, I have my dad’s hat ( which does not fit), and a wall plaque of flowers made up with seeds which my mother made who was into crafts - and that is about it. Everything else, except the photos are gone - and in another generation those will go too because the children won’t know who those people are. All that remains is a stone in the cemetery with a name and 2 dates to prove that that person ever existed. So goes the wealth of the world. “Vanity of vanities.”

Do we plan for and prepare for our eternal futures? Or is our vision just on this world? St. Paul in the second reading reminds us of our birth, not just the day we were born, but our birth as God’s children in Baptism when we died and rose with Christ to eternal life. He reminds us to prepare for our home with God to get our minds off the ways of this world which weigh us down. “If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the Right hand of God. Think what is above not of what is on earth.” “Put to death, the parts of you that are Earthly: Immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, and the greed that is idolatry….put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator.”

Today is the feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, who lived in Spain in the 1500’s and was from a noble family, he wanted to be great so he decided to be a famous general so statues would be made of him. In a battle as a soldier his leg was shattered by a cannon ball. While recuperating he wanted to read books of knights and chivalry but in this hospital run by nuns there was only the Bible, the life of Christ and lives of the saints. It was reading these that he was inspired to be great is to be like Christ, to be like the saints who live what Jesus taught, they are not dead but alive in heaven - and they have many statues and churches named after them throughout the world - because of bringing the love of God. He decided to plan for his eternal future and helped others to find this truth of preparing for eternity by founding the Jesuits.

It is interesting that in the past people went to the seminary and entered religious life right after graduating from High School Now a majority of vocations are from successful business people who tried the world and found it lacking. It could not bring eternal happiness and satisfaction to life no matter how many things they had. They gave it up and found happiness with less possessions, a much smaller salary but with a loving relationship with God and service to Jesus by seeing him in the people they work with, there they find real happiness, satisfaction in life and eternal happiness besides.

How many times have I heard from senior citizens that what this country needs is a good depression so people learn the real value of material things and instead find their need in God and in one another. We have had the Savings and Loan bail out, the crash of the tech stocks at which many lost a lot of money, the collapse of banks, the burst of the housing bubble and the fall of the value of real estate. Maybe God is trying to tell us of the real value of this world and is reminding us to prepare for our eternal futures by turning back to God in prayer, being people of faith and charity to others, supporting the work of the Church and being the Image of Jesus to others - as we build our mansions in Heaven while we still can.