Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 114

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!”’

Jesus clearly knew the Wisdom of Ecclesiastes  for the rich fool's remarks echoes several verses of Qoheleth's book: 

1. There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink and provide themselves with good things from their toil. Even this, I saw, is from the hand of God. For who can eat or drink apart from God? (Ecclesiastes 2:24)
   
   
2. Therefore I praised joy, because there is nothing better for mortals under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be joyful; this will accompany them in their toil through the limited days of life God gives them under the sun. (8:15)
   
   
3. Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, because it is now that God favors your works. At all times let your garments be white, and spare not the perfume for your head. Enjoy life with the wife you love, all the days of the vain life granted you under the sun. (9:7-9)

The Lord's prediction of doom also echoes the wise man's unhappy conclusion: there will be "no wisdom in Hell where you are going."

For all the changes we have seen within our few years, little has changed. Qoheleth's words still haunt us:

Vanity of vanities, All things are vanity!

Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill,

and yet to another who has not labored over it,

he must leave property.

This also is vanity and a great misfortune.

It would be comical if it were not so destructive: the hoarding of Americans as they cram rented storage containers with stuff they'll never see again. What do the rental owners do with unclaimed goods as their owners disappear into the Great Beyond? Most of it means nothing to their heirs, whose homes are already overcrowded with stuff. 
          "This also is vanity and a great misfortune."

Finishing the parable, Jesus said nothing to the man who asked him to, "Tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” He would not act as his judge or arbiter, nor even as his attorney. The One who would carry his last possession to Calvary and be stripped of his decency before dying, wanted nothing to do with this plaintiff's case. 

Every time a Catholic enters a church we see an image of the Crucified Lord. We're reminded to "keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith." (Hebrews 12:2) The crucifix describes a dying or dead man, and must also remind us of our impending death. Memento mori!  No matter how young we might be, we have little time left. As some European tombstones remind their visitors,

"As I once was, so are you now. As I am now, so shall you be." 

As Europe shook off the last vestiges of the Roman Empire and set out to rebuild a civilization built on capital, Saint Francis  of Assisi had a vision of perfect joy. While his family, friends, neighbors, as well as civil and ecclesiastical authorities struggled to accrue more wealth, influence, security, and comfort the rich man's son decided to imitate the Lord and live with nothing. Perhaps his experience as a prisoner of war in neighboring Perugia shocked his acquisitive instincts. Sick, depressed, disenchanted, he could find no reason to want more stuff.  

But the Lord gave to him -- and to the world -- a revelation that seemed at the time unprecedented and comically absurd. He would find peace of mind and perfect joy in the imitation of Christ. He would own nothing but the open road; he would invest nothing but his trust in God. He would test God's reputation for Providence and discover if life with nothing might be more free, satisfying, and joyful than rented storage containers crammed with stuff.  

He soon found thousands of disenchanted men and women who shared his vision. His life became a revelation and renewal of the Gospel for Europe and the world. As the world now faces multiple catastrophes of climate change, nuclear war, and social upheaval, we hear Jesus and Saint Francis, along with Mary and Saint Clare, inviting us again to step out of these discomfort zones and walk the road to Easter.