Success in Life 10 15 06

In today's Gospel Jesus taught his disciples about the meaning of riches in their lives. The occasion of the teaching was a young man "with many possessions" refusing Jesus' invitation to follow him. As the man walked away, Jesus said, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God." Jesus' disciples were shocked and perplexed by Jesus' declaration. Traditionally wealth was a sign of the blessing of God. That it could hinder entering the kingdom was amazing to those who heard Jesus' words. The disciple's response was, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus answered, "For human beings it is impossible, but not for God."

It is generally agreed that the human drive to own and accumulate arises from a profound sense of insecurity. In the present life a person can feel constantly under attack from creditors, from the possibility of losing a job, from health concerns, family obligations. Accumulation of wealth and possessions relieves this basic anxiety. A sense of safety replaces fear. Storing up things in the present makes an individual feel that his future is protected. The larger the accumulation the greater the sense of safety.

When people accumulate wealth, they have to protect it. Therefore, most of the time their energy is spent in hanging onto what they have gathered. It is ownership that brings the sense of safety. This separates them from their neighbor whom they see as a threat to their wealth. The need to feel safe makes the idea of sharing with others laughable.

The drive to ensure safety can be ruthless. It pushes people to such self-centered behavior that they commit injustice to gain advantage. They also tend to tolerate any injustice as long as it benefits them. Most Christians are familiar with the words from the First Epistle to Timothy: "The love of money is the root of all evils." Most of them are not familiar with the words that follow; "Some in their desire for it (money) have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains." (1 Tim. 6:10)

Jesus tells us to seek our treasure in heaven. We must value, above all, our relationship with God. A major obstacle to our relationship with God is preoccupation with ourselves. Adam and Eve wanted to follow their own path instead of the one laid out by for them by God. That is still our biggest temptation. Worldly treasure seems to put our happiness in our own hands. That is the way of the world. Our society by giving so much attention to wealth encourages us to seek wealth as the way to success and happiness. The Gospel constantly warns us that seeking wealth takes our minds away from what the Lord demands of us.

Jesus knows that we cannot maintain our relationship with God without divine aid. We must receive from God the power to love in Godlike ways. We open ourselves to divine power by imitating Jesus. We become persons who spend our lives helping others. That is the paradox of the Gospel. We gain our lives by losing them. Modern psychological research has highlighted the fact that helping others strengthens our personality so that we handle life problems in a more effective way. We claim our own personal giftedness by seeing those gifts in others and by helping others develop their gifts.

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We all know that we will die. Some individuals constantly run away from thoughts of death. This leads to anxiety and unrealistic ways of conducting life. We face this insecurity by realizing that it is the way things are. Death is part of life. We humans increase our peace of mind by realizing that we humans are children both of time and eternity. We live as finite beings who are at the same time transcendent. We never come to the end of our capacity to know and to love. We begin to feel our transcendence by following Jesus.

Jesus assures us that love is the major way to live our present life. It is also our future. I often quote St. Paul's description of living in the Spirit who is love. In the Spirit of love we find love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. What better description is there for successful living.