REFLECTION/HOMILY OF THURSDAY 7TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

REFLECTION/HOMILY OF THURSDAY 7TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: THE AGONIES OF THE RICH!

BY: Fr. Benedict AGBO

Rich men/ women (simply defined by me as those who love money/ wealth) are bound to have 3 agonizing experiences according to the 1st reading of today;
1. The pain of decay; St James says; ‘Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you – your riches will rot and decay’.

2. The danger of exploitation; Most rich men face the danger of exploiting the poor – either by withholding their wages, cheating them one way or the other or denying them your charity.
3. The trap of luxurious living; One of the worst agonies of rich men / women is to be so addicted to pleasures that finally consume them – obesity, diabetes, cancer, excess cholesterol leading to sudden heart attacks, hypertension, etc are usually called “Rich men’s diseases”. Excess eating and drinking can most times lead to an agonizing end.
* Lessons from Alexander the great; for all these he advised that all his money be littered on the streets on the day of his funeral; his hands be projecting from his coffins to show he is going with none of his riches and that the best doctors be employed to carry his coffin to remind the rich that wealth can’t prevent death.

Riches are not actually bad in itself. That’s why Jesus creates a balance in today’s gospel by presenting the antidote to the agony of riches – the virtue of generosity. It does not allow you keep any excess luggages. The scriptures warn us (in the Parable of Lazarus and the anonymous rich man, Lk 16: 19f) that the crumbs from the rich man’s table belong by right to the poor. The spiritual truth every child of God must face is that every excess money in the pocket of a rich man belongs by right to the poor. So, there should be no poor man (I mean abject poverty) amidst the children of God, no matter how we twist the arguments.

Charity is generosity done for the sake of Christ. Only this kind of generosity is salutary strictly speaking. The rest could be philanthropy or political love (born out of humanism or other selfish purposes). Christ says: ‘Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward’. May the rich men/ women in our midst learn from the warnings in today’s readings. Take note that everybody is richer than somebody. To that person you owe some level of generosity. May God bless you today!

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