18th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
July 31, 2022

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

The passage of the Gospel that we just heard is obviously very interesting, and I think especially important at this time in our current cultural reality.

As we heard, a man asks Jesus to settle a dispute about his inheritance, and Jesus tells him he should stop worrying about things like money and possessions. And then he tells us that beautiful story, the parable of the rich fool.

And as I was reflecting on our Lord’s parable, I was thinking of how our culture tells us that we can find happiness by having material things, having money and the things that money can buy — the right car, the right phone, good food, the best games and entertainment and leisure.

And sadly, the thinking and messages in our culture can be summed up by those words that we hear from the rich fool in the Gospel: “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 I think we all understand that what this is not the way to the happiness. What our culture says is a “good life” — is not really a good life at all.

The challenge that we have is that we are surrounded by those kinds of messages. And whether we like it or not, those values and priorities start to sink in.

We can live every day and never think about God in this society, just like the rich farmer. We start sometimes to worry about having enough money and having things that we see our neighbors have.

This is exactly why Jesus warns the young man today, as he says to him in the parable: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

But my dear brothers and sisters, I think we all understand that what our culture says is a “good life” — is not really a good life at all.

That is why Jesus says today: “One’s life does not consist of possessions.”

And yes, Jesus knows that we need money and food, and we need a place to live and things to be comfortable. And Jesus wants us to have fun and enjoy ourselves. That’s for sure.

But Jesus is telling us today — that what matters is not what we have. What matters is God. And what matters is who we are in God’s eyes and who God wants us to be.

And who we are and what God wants for our lives — is something truly amazing, something awesome. We are children of God! Not just “generic” children of God. Each of us can say, “I am a son. I am a daughter of God! God knows my name.”

And God has a story that he wants to write with my life, and a message he wants to send.

So yes, God wants your life to be beautiful on this earth, to be filled with love and joy and holiness and hope. God wants your life to radiate his glory, to be a light that leads other people to know him and to love him!
 
At the same time, we all know that it is natural for us to feel anxiety, to get worried about things. We worry about our children, we worry about the future, the direction of our society.

But we should never be afraid. You can trust in God. God did not bring us into this world to leave us alone. We need to rely on him, not on our own strength, our own ideas and wisdom.

We cannot rely on our wealth to bring us security. That is exactly the wisdom that we heard in that beautiful first reading today from Ecclesiastes. It is a very realistic passage: “Vanities of vanity. All things are vanity.”

So sometimes what we hear, what we worry about — it’s not the most important thing. Because all things must pass away. This is the nature of things in this material world. Things are here for a while and then they are not. Even our own lives. All of us are here for just a while.

And as we heard in that first reading of today’s Mass, our lives are not our own.

No matter how hard we work or how much we worry — for all our “anxiety of heart” and all the nights we spend worrying, we are not in control, as we know.

God is in charge. And it is beautiful. So, we need to trust in his Providence. And we need to listen to what Jesus is telling us in the Gospel today. As he says, we need to be “rich in what matters to God.”

And my brothers and sisters, what matters to God is that we become holy, that we become saints!

And to be a saint means that we live by love. That we live to serve others in love, and that we live to glorify God with our lives.

And of course, we cannot do this by our own powers. We can only to this by following the beautiful example of our Lord Jesus Christ and seeking the things of heaven, trusting always in God’s love and his plan for us.

So today, let us especially ask for the grace to make the goal of our life to go to heaven. That is what St. Paul recommends in the second reading today. He gives us good advice: “Think of what is above, not is on earth.”

If we trust in Jesus, if we live according to his teachings, he will do the rest. He will give us what we need — Life and life abundant!

God will give us the things of heaven, the gifts of love and friendship; he will give us joy and a sense of real meaning and purpose in our lives. So, those are, my dear brothers and sisters, the things we really need, that is what that brings us joy and peace in our lives.

So, today let us ask our Blessed Mother Mary, to help us. May she help us to always remember that our life is so much more than our possessions. May she help us to always know that we only bring to heaven — what we have given away in love here on earth.