Think of what is above

This Sunday marks the 8^th Sunday after Pentecost. It has been 8 weeks since the sending of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, and 15 weeks since the great solemnity of Easter. The great June Feasts of Corpus Christi, Peter and Paul, and The Sacred Heart, have long since passed. We now find ourselves firmly rooted in the long summer months where the heat of the day can tempt us to idleness and sloth. We also find ourselves midway through “Ordinary Time,” where the rather unexciting name of the season may tempt us to become spiritually complacent.

Many things may be on our minds, or perhaps nothing at all. We may find that worldly desires and anxieties preoccupy us. Perhaps we are like the man in Jesus’ parable from this Sunday, who is concerned solely with material things, without preparing for the world to come.

Our Lord illustrates a picture of a successful man (by material standards). He is wealthy, his land is fertile and produces plenty, and he is planning wisely for the future so that when he is old he may “relax, eat, drink, and be merry” (Lk 12: 19) – a desirable life, indeed. To be sure, there is nothing wrong with what the man is doing; we should all take care to support ourselves and plan for the future. The problem is with what the man is not doing. He is tending to his material needs, but he is failing to tend to his spiritual needs, which are of far greater importance. “What will it profit you if you gain the whole world but forfeit your life?” (Mt 16:26)

Therefore, in these summer months, while we tend to our corporeal needs (which do need to be tended to), let us also “think of what is above” (Col 3: 2) and tend to our spiritual needs as well. At this mid-point of Ordinary Time, and as the liturgical year begins to draw to a close, let us recommit ourselves to pursue the things of heaven, so that when our time here on earth likewise draws to a close we may go forth to meet Our Lord spiritually rich, “rich in what matters to God” (Lk 12:21).

Kevin Ponte – St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta

Fot. Ben White/Unsplash.com