Today's readings: Ecclesiastes 1, 2; 2, 21-23; Colossians 3, 1-5.9-11; Luke 12, 13-21.
The proverbial "vanity of vanities" from the wisdom literature in the Scriptures is the focal point of today's readings. By itself it sounds too pessimistic and negative. It is then better explained and completed by Jesus in the Gospel, serving as a good eye-opener on our lifestyles. In other words, Jesus is warning that being foolish can make us pay too high a price in life. We can't afford to miss out on what life is essentially about.
If we want to comprehend life's meaning, we cannot be short-sighted. Jesus tells the story of a man who in life had a strategy without having a vision. It's sheer folly, he says, to lose sight of what, at the end of the day, secures not just our day-to-day existence but the meaning of all we do. This story's message, coupled with the words from Ecclesiastes, is about the basic attitudes that govern daily living.
There are basic needs in life that surely constitute daily headaches, such as the need to be someone or to feel acknowledged, or the need for success and a career. But in a proper order of things, these are only means towards an end, and the moment they become the end, everything changes, emptying our existence of a proper vision.
Today's gospel parable is found only in Luke and it has a double meaning. On the one hand it is the determined affirmation by Jesus of the priority of eternal salvation over earthly goods; on the other hand, it reflects something the Christian communities were already cherishing. Luke is surely addressing those within the community who were rich and enjoyed status but who were not so keen on their social obligations.
Jesus' words apply to the way we live today, and make a lot of sense when he warns: "Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man's life is not made secure by what he owns." It's all about basic attitudes - you can have possessions and yet retain inner freedom over the way you relate to them, or you can be poor but live always craving to have more and never experience interior peace of heart. On the same wavelength, Paul in the second reading from Colossians is in no way inviting us to be head-in-air when he urges us to "look for the things that are in heaven".
Life has meaning and is beautiful. It is at times the way we live that renders it meaningless and makes our hearts restless. The void we often experience inside can be terrible. The rich man in Jesus' story was in fact the poorest, because it's not what we actually have that makes us who we are or who we are called to be. Being possessed by our possessions, as the Church Fathers often warn, makes of us mere slaves and renders all efforts futile.
So the Word of God today speaks mainly about decent living, about making sense of things, about living with dignity. It addresses the psychology of daily living. It's about true discernment, about choosing rightly between illusions and what really matters. This is, after all, the foundation of the spiritual life. Otherwise, spirituality risks being disincarnate, entirely separate from the demands of daily life and from the dynamics inside us.
Life as we live it is in itself frail and contingent, and we need first to be healed of our fear in order to experience spiritual freedom. Today's teaching on lack of anxiety about possessions is profoundly challenging and most welcome. As C.S. Lewis writes, among our basic needs there is the need to adore our creator, and all that seeks to substitute that is idolatry.
In the face of the new humanisms and the diverse philosophies of progress, it is not enough to say no. We need to translate our hope in a new proposal of a life lived meaningfully and fully. In fact, folly can be described as toiling to attain material satisfaction without giving heed to the restless heart inside.