Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Perhaps with today’s parable in mind, a Church Father asks:

When did an ease-loving farmer [ever] fill his barns? Who ever gathered in his harvest in the proper season if he did not first prepare the hard earth by many a furrow? The account taken of great virtue is this: the more a man works, the greater the reward does he get (Valerian, Sayings of the Church Fathers: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, #396).

This is straightforward wisdom: it takes effort on our part if we want something. It’s really no different than the Biblical recognition that “whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Ga. 6:7, 8). If the gardener wishes to reap, he or she must plant. It’s as simple as that. Moreover, although this parable known as the Rich Fool serves as a warning to us, nowhere does our Lord denigrate the industriousness of the rich man that led to the vast yields of crops which, in turn, caused him to ponder just what he should do with it all. Even Sacred Scripture recognizes the legitimacy of such blessing and tempers it with this apostolic word: “Command those who are rich in this present age,” says St. Paul, “not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, Who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” But, then, according to this same passage from St. Paul, with God’s blessing comes responsibility. “Let them do good,” says the Apostle, that is, those who are blessed, “that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share.” “To what end or for what purpose?,” we might ask. So that by sharing their blessings and being careful to preserve such a mindset of generosity and of liberality, they stand ever-vigilant to bless others as they have been blessed, thus “storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on Eternal Life” (1 Tm. 6:17-19). This is certainly what our Lord taught in His Sermon on the Mount and offered to another rich man once who came seeking Eternal Life. “’Sell what you have and give to the poor,’” Jesus tells the seeking soul, “’and you will have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me’” (Mt. 19:21). In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks of this reality. We can either lay up treasures here in this world, or we can lay up treasures for ourselves in Heaven where they will be preserved for us. “’For where your treasure is,’” Jesus assures us, “’there your heart will be also’” (Mt. 6:19-21; Lk. 16:9).

Now, for those of us who are feeling a tad anxious because all of this sounds like salvation is something bartered, bought, and sold, I assure you this is exactly what it’s not. What Sacred Scripture, and especially our Lord, is not saying is that we can bribe God or pay Him off. What Sacred Scripture and our Lord is saying is that our material blessings – to whatever degree that may be for each of us – matter in our salvation. Because how we receive them, how we treat them, and what we do with them reveals a lot about our spiritual state – our souls and our sanctification in Jesus Christ Who alone saves us. They can be useful in our salvation and they can be used against us in our condemnation. This is where the proverbial rubber meets the road for us all spiritually. This falls under what St. Paul directs us all to do in one of his Epistles, and that is to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God Who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Pp. 2:12-13). This is also to say that, as Sacred Scripture shows us, God not only pays attention to our piety, but to what we do with what He has first given us. Take as our example, the Gentile Roman Centurion by the name of Cornelius in the Book of Acts. St. Luke records in that book that this soldier was “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.” It was for this reason that an angel was sent by God to him to prepare him and his whole household for salvation. The angel tells him, “’Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God’” (Ac. 10:1-8, 30-33). In other words, the treasure laid up in Heaven by this God-fearing Roman Centurion caught God’s eye, so to speak, so that it became a memorial or a remembrance before God Who blessed the Centurion and his entire household with the saving Word from St. Peter. Had he not been a devout and pious soul of prayer to Israel’s God and a man full of the virtue of generosity and the liberality of giving to bless others, we would not even know of this man preserved in Sacred Scripture for us and for our spiritual edification. But, he is and we need to pay attention to this.

This Centurion, then, stands juxtaposed to the rich fool in today’s parable. For that matter, he stands juxtaposed to any of us who are like that blessed but rich fool! As I noted earlier, the rich fool in our parable today is confronted with an abundant harvest – the result of his efforts and God’s Providence. And it causes him – as I’m sure it would us – to stop and ponder his situation, “What am I to do?” “’He thought within himself,’” Jesus says. He weighed his options and, sadly, he was found wanting in the balances of eternity. He was not a man of virtue because he was not a man of God, that is to say, God had little, if any, place in this man’s heart, his mind, his soul, or his life. He was totally curved-in on himself – his wants and his desires. There was no room for any other alternative outside of himself because God was absent from his heart. He had no faith, no hope, no love. Life revolved solely around him. He neglected his soul and the eternity for which we all have been created (WS 2:23). He lived as one zeroed-in on this world and this world alone, and death caught up with him unprepared for the world to come and his eternal abode. And the demons seized him.

This parable, hopefully, compels us to ponder our lives and the blessings God freely rains upon us, their place and influence in our lives. Assuming we are persons of faith, hope, and love, we are obligated today to “’think within ourselves’” about God and all He has given us. When we consider these things, is it all about us – our wants and our desires? What do our decisions about these things reveal about our souls? Is God front and center? Does He control how we handle His blessings or not? Are we men and women of virtue motivated to glorify God, who look beyond ourselves to others? Do we live as though this world is all there is or is eternity on our minds, in our hearts, filling our souls? Why is it that studies over the years have consistently demonstrated that people who can’t afford to give, generally outgive those who can afford to do so but don’t? It boils down to making a choice. Who or what, then, controls our choices?

Of course, this leads us to other questions such as, “Just what are possessions for? Should a Christian’s use of his or her worldly goods differ from that of a non-Christian? Or, is there no difference? For whom do we live this life? For what do we live? And, why? Is it true what some of the Church Fathers say that we lock “[ourselves] out from the abundance of [our] barns by refusing access to others” (Chrysologus, Sayings of the Fathers: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, #537)? Do we refuse God? Do we refuse the Church, our Mother and Bride of Christ? Do we refuse those in need? Just who is permitted access to our barns? When we stand before the Almighty’s dread Judgment Throne, what will He say about us: that we have been rich towards Him or rich towards ourselves? There is much for us to contemplate here in light of the great Truth that “for us men and for our salvation” our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who was rich, became poor, so that we who are poor might be made rich through Him (2 Cr. 8:9). Our wealth, beloved, is found in His immeasurable grace, His incomprehensible mercy, and His inexpressible love for us that He would cause us to share in His own divine nature (2 Pe. 1:4). “Who is so great a god as our God?,” I ask you (Ps. 76 [77]:13).

On a final note, an old Spanish proverb says that “there are no pockets in death shrouds.” In other words, we can’t take anything with us. But, that’s not quite right. Our Father among the saints, Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, says this: “Virtue alone is the companion of the dead, mercy alone follows us, which gains for the dead an everlasting habitation.” And, it is St. John the Theologian in his Revelation who quotes a heavenly voice which reminds us, “’Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them’” (Rv. 14:13; 19:7-8).

Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

PROPERS:

Ep. 2:14-22

Lk. 12:16-21