Material World

First Reading: Ezekiel 24:15-23
Responsorial Psalm: Deuteronomy 32:18-19, 20, 21
Gospel: Matthew 19:16-22

Like many of you I have been watching the Olympic games and I have been greatly enjoying seeing all of the athletes striving and straining, and using the natural abilities that God has granted to them (whether they realize it or not). It has been especially exciting seeing our country represented so well and to see athletes break records and make history right before our eyes. But in between the high dives and gymnastics vaults, we are bombarded for several minutes by commercials. While some of them make us laugh, others tend to make us go "Huh? What was the point of that commercial?" No matter what their outcome, all these commercials are trying to do the same thing: sell. All of these commercials are telling us that we need the newest iPhone, or digital camera, the best insurance, the best cell phone service; it really never ends. Each day we are bombarded by these advertisements telling us that we really need all kinds of new stuff. We even get messages that say we may not need it, but we deserve it. It is just so unfortunate that many in our culture have this mindset of having lots of stuff, and many of us define ourselves by the stuff we have. There are actually many studies going on right now that are examining this issue of materialism in our society. Here is a quote by one researcher that talks about materialism with our children:

"Contemporary American tweens and teens have emerged as the most brand-oriented, consumer-involved, and materialistic generation in history. And they top the list globally. . . .More children here than anywhere else believe that their clothes and brands describe who they are and define their social status. (Schor 2004)"

Is this not just heartbreaking to hear?

In the gospel today we are told of a young man who wishes to gain eternal life, so he goes and asks Jesus what he needs to do. Jesus tells him to keep all of the commandments. The young man says that he does that and what else he must do. Jesus then tells him “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” The young man becomes very sad about this because of all the stuff that he owned. Does this sound like someone who is suffering from a materialistic mindset? It sure does to me. But are we all very different from the young man of this story? What if someone walked up to you and told you to sell all of your stuff and go work as a missionary the rest of your life, would you be jumping for joy? Probably not, we are all so attached to our lives and all the things in our lives. It is unfathomable for us to give away all of our stuff because then we wouldn't have anything...or would we? In the gospel we are told that if we sell all of our stuff and follow Christ then we will have treasure in heaven. I think that when we start to think of the outcomes; treasure in heaven should start to sound much better than a bunch of stuff that is lying around and collecting dust.

In our faith life, we are called to go out and do things that are so counter-cultural and according to society "not normal." But by detaching ourselves from this materialistic mindset and detaching ourselves from our stuff, we are gaining treasure in heaven. Not all of us are called to go and sell all of our stuff, but we should be ready to if we needed to. Detachment is a very powerful tool that can help us follow Christ better. We need to detach ourselves from all of our material possessions because although they may be really nice (and perhaps a lot of fun); they may be prohibiting us from a truly thriving relationship with our Lord and Savior.

I pray that from this gospel, we all seek to learn more lessons in detachment, and to rid ourselves of this materialist mindset.

Father above, we thank you for the gift of another day and we ask for your help in serving you this day. Lord by ourselves we cannot do as you will, but with your spirit we can follow where ever you lead us. Give us the strength and courage to follow you no matter what. Let us live in this world and not of it. Lord we pray for all those who are clinging to their things instead of you. We ask this all through Christ our Lord. Amen.