Jesus tells a story about a man who comes into a lot of wealth. Things suddenly go well for him and his reaction is to say this means now I don’t need to work: I can just relax and enjoy myself. This man is not actually doing anything “wrong.” It is his money and he can do what he likes with it. But he is condemned nonetheless, and called a “fool” because he is placing his security in his own wealth and achievements. There is no mention of his being aware of the needs of others. He totally concerned about himself – and no-one else.
It is not uncommon to meet this attitude. A person becomes intent on their own agenda. There is no sense of solidarity with others, no sense of the fragility of life itself. “This very night the demand will be made for your soul; this hoard of yours, whose will it be then?”
The extract above of Pope Francis’ words emphasize, if emphasis be needed, that the church is not against people becoming fully involved in life and all that our world has to offer. If there appeared to be an opposition between the church and world before the middle of the last century the Vatican Council of the 1960s affirmed the Church’s desire to be right at the heart of the world.
The problem always is that we can glue our attention to the benefits we can draw from this beautiful world without any attention to the wider demands of other people and of the greater picture of time and eternity.
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis