Fr Colin's Desk
From Fr Colin
When I go visiting in Holy Cross Primary School and the children are given an opportunity to ask me any questions in class, the question I am asked most often is “why did you become a priest?” This is a fair enough question to ask, and I enjoy sharing something of my own journey of faith with the children, telling them the circumstances which led to the beginnings of my studies for the priesthood.
After the children have listened to my story, I then, in turn, ask them “what would you like to do for a living when you are older?” And the answers I get vary from class to class, but they usually include—footballer, actress, doctor, lawyer and teacher. Someone in the class sometimes responds with the answer “I’d like to do the job which pays the biggest amount of money.” Which goes to show that even from an early age we tend to look for material security in this world, thinking that riches and wealth will make us happy, but as our readings from today’s Mass remind us—there is more to life than wealth and riches. Faith in Christ Himself as Our Saviour is itself a gift which cannot be bought.
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus speaks of a farmer who builds bigger barns in order to house a bumper crop, but he then doesn’t live long enough to enjoy his fortune. Some 2000 years on, Christ’s words and teaching still have a lot to offer our consumerist society today. We live in a culture which tells us that having things—bigger, fancier and more expensive—will make us happy. Yet being fixated with possessions rarely brings happiness at all—if anything it can lead to the very opposite.
Jesus warns us in today’s Gospel passage to guard against all greed. The rich man in the story evaluates his life in terms of what he owns and believes he is secure. Yet on God’s scale of values, the man is foolish because these things are fleeting, as today’s first reading makes clear. Christ instructs us to acquire the riches which God values. Such values are outlined for us in the Scriptures: wisdom of heart, kindness, joy, compassion and mercy.
Living out such values will lead to a happy future indeed. A future with God our Father in His eternal Kingdom of paradise.