20201019 RETIREMENT DREAM TURNED TO NIGHTMARE
19 October, 2020, Monday, 29th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Green.
First reading |
Ephesians 2:1-10 © |
Sinners are saved in Christ Jesus
You were dead through the crimes and the sins in which you used to live when you were following the way of this world, obeying the ruler who governs the air, the spirit who is at work in the rebellious. We all were among them too in the past, living sensual lives, ruled entirely by our own physical desires and our own ideas; so that by nature we were as much under God’s anger as the rest of the world. But God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace that you have been saved – and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.
This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how infinitely rich he is in grace. Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.
Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 99(100) © |
He made us, we belong to him.
Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing for joy.
He made us, we belong to him.
Know that he, the Lord, is God.
He made us, we belong to him,
we are his people, the sheep of his flock.
He made us, we belong to him.
Go within his gates, giving thanks.
Enter his courts with songs of praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
He made us, we belong to him.
Indeed, how good is the Lord,
eternal his merciful love.
He is faithful from age to age.
He made us, we belong to him.
Gospel Acclamation | Ps24:4,5 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Teach me your paths, my God,
make me walk in your truth.
Alleluia!
Or: | Mt5:3 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
How happy are the poor in spirit:
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 12:13-21 © |
Fool! This very night your soul will be demanded of you
A man in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Master, tell my brother to give me a share of our inheritance.’ ‘My friend,’ he replied, ‘who appointed me your judge, or the arbitrator of your claims?’ Then he said to them, ‘Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.’
Then he told them a parable: ‘There was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land, thought to himself, “What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” But God said to him, “Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?” So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.’
RETIREMENT DREAM TURNED TO NIGHTMARE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EPHESIANS 2:1-10; LUKE 12:13-21 ]
The parable of the rich farmer is a good story to remind us how we should plan for our retirement. This rich man had a good harvest. With so much crops, he had more than enough for the rest of his life. He said, “I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: My soul, you have plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” Indeed, his dream of a good retirement was about to be realized.
Indeed, we are not much different from him. The rich farmer is the typical man in the world. Already before we reach the age of 40, we are preparing for our retirement. It is a bit ironical that our whole life’s purpose seems to be to prepare ourselves for retirement. Apparently, this is when we think we can truly live. Before retirement, we must work hard; accumulate lots of money and property. So that when we retire, we can enjoy ourselves, have a good time, go for holidays, “take things easy, eat, drink, have a good time.” In other words, there is no life until we reach retirement age! Many young people hope to make enough money so that they can retire at the age of 50 so that they can spend the rest of their days enjoying life.
However, to ensure that we have enough for our retirement, we need to plan. Our Central Provident Fund keeps reminding us to plan for our retirement, how to invest our money so that our nest egg will generate sufficient money to see us through our retirement years. Our financial planners also would give us advice where to park our funds so that we can make our money grow for our future use. It is of course not wrong to plan for our future. We need to exercise prudence. The mistake of the rich farmer was not in his plan to build bigger barns to store his excess grains but the rationale and philosophy behind his accumulation of wealth.
Firstly, like the rich farmer, our security and happiness lie in our wealth. We think that if we have sufficient or plenty of money, our life will be secure and we will be happy because we can live a life of luxury, eat, enjoy, travel and sleep without any worries about tomorrow. If that were so, then the outcome is greed and hoarding. Since we are not too sure about the future, we are always greedy to have more and more money. Because we are afraid to be without money, we hoard, not just by preventing others from having a share of our wealth but even from spending them on ourselves. This is why Jesus refused the request of the man who asked Him to arbitrate in his dispute with his brother over his share of the inheritance. Instead, Jesus widened his perspective and the motive of his desire. He said, “Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man’s life is not made secure by what he owns, even when he has more than he needs.”
Secondly, like the rich farmer, we think that happiness lies in enjoyment and pleasure. We are deluded into believing that a good life is one where we wake up every morning without having to worry about the day’s program. We live a carefree life, going about doing what we like, dinning with our friends, playing golf or watching movies and concerts. We call such activities “recreation.” They rejuvenate us after many days of hard work. However, they should not be our main preoccupation. What makes us happy in life is when we live our lives meaningfully. This happens when we contribute and make a difference in peoples’ lives, helping them, being with them, journeying and listening to them. Unless, we make ourselves useful, we will feel useless. The worst thing in life is to feel useless, when no one needs us and bothers us, when our existence in the world does not matter to anyone.
The mistake of the rich farmer was that he thought happiness was to live for himself. He focused only on himself. Pay attention to what he said. How many times he used the word, “I” and “my”. It was all about himself. He never had a thought for others. The wealth and excess goods he had was all for himself and his sensual enjoyment. He sought to live for himself. Such a life is as good as dead. In trying to live for oneself, we will not live. This was what St Paul said to the Ephesians. “You were dead, through the crimes and the sins in which you used to live when you were following the way of this world, obeying the ruler who governs the air, the spirit who is at work in the rebellious. We all were among them too in the past, living sensual lives, ruled entirely by our own physical desires and our own ideas.” When we allow ourselves to live a sensual, materialistic, selfish and self-centered life, we reduce ourselves to a living corpse. Life loses its purpose and meaning.
Indeed, there is no retirement in life. The only retirement is retirement from life, which is death! So long as we are alive, we need to work, to make ourselves useful, to contribute to our loved ones, church and society. If we just spend our time eating, drinking sleeping and gossiping all day, our body will degenerate quickly and our mind gets demented. Like the rich farmer, God will say, “Fool! This very night the demand will be made for your soul.” So even for those who are retired, to keep themselves alive, they need to be involved in doing good, serving church or society, helping the poor or looking after their grandchildren or nephews. Indeed, this is the warning of our Lord. “So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of making himself rich in the sight of God.” Pleasures and enjoyment cannot satisfy us completely. We will reach a saturation point. We need to expand our mind and our heart to accommodate God and others.
The second mistake of the rich man was that he only lived for this world. This is again the real delusion of the world today because of secularism, materialism and consumerism. Today, the world keeps reminding us, “You only live once.” Simply, it means once dead, we are gone forever. So enjoy as much whilst you can. In itself, if this philosophy means we must live our life to the fullest by living for others in service, it is good. However, if it means that we do not have a life beyond this world, then we are wrong. Indeed, St Paul made it clear that our destiny is to be with Christ in heaven. “God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace that you have been saved – and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.” When we fail to realize that our homeland is in heaven, then we live our life carelessly. We idle our time away. We fail to realize that how we live our life now will determine how we live hereafter.
God has chosen us to share in His life and love. It is a gift from God. “This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how infinitely rich he is in grace. Because it is by grace that you have been saved through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit.” God does not simply choose us. He chose us to share His life. What is this good life we are called to live “as from the beginning he had meant us to live it”? It is a life of love and service as opposed to the life of the world, one that is selfish, inward-looking, focused on oneself, one’s physical and sensual pleasure. It is only when we live our life to the fullest in this manner that can we find ourselves. We become what we are. We realize ourselves and find fulfillment when we live out our innate potential.
At the end of the day, when we enter our permanent retirement in heaven, we have to render an account of ourselves to God. When we appear before God, we have nothing to bring to Him, not even a single cent from our bank account. This is why the Lord remarked, “And this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?” We will have to leave our earthly treasures behind. I hope we have heavenly treasures to bring with us to heaven. We cannot take anything with us except our heart, our virtues, our goodness, friendship and our love.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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