August 3 – 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Nowadays we see of all kinds of devices designed to make life easier, and they are multiplying at an almost frenetic pace: from personal grooming tools to the most advanced means of communication and locomotion, our daily lives are increasingly based on technology.
However, it is not hard for a more attentive observer to see that yesterday’s state-of-the-art computer is already outdated and stored in a closet today… The most powerful car now in vogue, coveted by countless buyers, will tomorrow be passed over for another and will end its days in a junkyard…
What could we say about mobile phones, which are feverishly acquired at all ages and then discarded like the grass of the Scriptures: “In the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers” (Ps 90:6)?
So what is the point of all these inventions? All “is vanity and a great evil” (Eccl 2:21)… The sad spectacle we see every day, of hundreds of people with their eyes fixed on screens, can suddenly fade away with a major power “outage”, leaving millions of souls utterly disoriented, because they have placed their hope in creatures. They would do well to repeat the words of today’s Gospel: “Take heed […] for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Lk 12:15).
Should we then preach the complete stripping away of earthly riches and live instead in savage primitivism in order to find happiness and well-being?
The human soul has an innate thirst for the infinite and the Absolute, as St. Augustine so aptly cried out: “You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You.”1 Now, if a man applies his love to a creature only to satisfy an unbalanced desire for selfish enjoyment, he lowers himself to the level of that being and will soon be frustrated with that pleasure, for it did not bring him the contentment he desired.
On the other hand, if the soul knows how to contemplate the reflection of the Creator in creatures, and through them seeks to grow in the knowledge of and enthusiasm for divine perfections, then it will find deep and lasting happiness. This is the fundamental advice that this Sunday’s Liturgy offers us, through the words of the Apostle to the Gentiles: “seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth” (Col 3:1-2).
If we wish to be rich before God (cf. Lk 12:21), let us beg for the grace that Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira asked for in a prayer he composed:
“O Lord Good Jesus, make me love, in an upright and holy way, everything that is great, marvellous, regal and elevated. Give me the grace to be completely unsatisfied by the trifles that until now have attracted me and to be completely enamoured by the great things that leave me weary. Whoever is cold and resistant to the appeals You make to human love through what is holy and marvellous on earth, is also so in relation to all the infinite horizons of the Faith that we must contemplate.” ◊
Notes
1 ST. AUGUSTINE. Confessions. L.I, c.1, n.1.
