{"id":4123,"date":"2013-08-10T15:35:12","date_gmt":"2013-08-10T14:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=4123"},"modified":"2013-08-10T15:35:12","modified_gmt":"2013-08-10T14:35:12","slug":"eighteenth-sunday-of-ordinary-time-rags-to-riches-v-riches-to-rags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=4123","title":{"rendered":"Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time – ‘Rags to Riches v Riches to Rags’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (4 August 2013)<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Rags to Riches v Riches to Rags’<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Readings at Mass: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23; Colossians: 3:1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21)<\/em><\/p>\n

The hope of \u2018rags to riches\u2019 prompts the sale of lottery tickets. \u00a0\u2018Riches to rags\u2019 has far fewer followers. \u00a0Henrick Ibsen, the Norwegian playwright (1826-1906) found himself on this latter path but not by choice. \u00a0His comfortable and financially secure childhood, through his father\u2019s success in shipping, crashed quite dramatically. \u00a0Ibsen later expressed his sense of loss and insecurity in the characters of his plays. \u00a0His appraisal of financial wealth still rings true: ‘Money may be the husk of many things, but not the kernel. \u00a0It brings you food but not appetite; medicine but not health; acquaintances but not friends; servants but not faithfulness; days of joy but not peace and happiness’ a quote from \u2018The Forbes Scrapbook of Thoughts on the\u00a0Business of Life\u2019 (Forbes1968). \u00a0In the first reading for this Sunday, the 18th\u00a0of the Year, from the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes, the ancient author sets the scene for Ibsen\u2019s thoughts centuries later.<\/p>\n

Luke\u2019s Gospel extract, \u2018The Parable of the Rich Man\u2019 (12:13-21) needs no explanation. \u00a0The question is, are people who accept the parable\u2019s truth willing to recalibrate their lives accordingly? \u00a0The concept is easier to manage than the application! \u00a0Down the centuries Christianity records men and women whose depth of personal faith led them to surrender all their material possessions.<\/p>\n

Among them is St. Anthony the Abbot (AD 251-356). \u00a0His parents died when he was in his late teens. \u00a0He inherited not only their three hundred acres of land and the responsibility for a young sister, but a living faith in Jesus the Christ. \u00a0One day in church, he heard Matthew 19:21 being read: ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ \u00a0<\/em>Jesus\u2019 words reached the inner sanctum of Anthony\u2019s heart. \u00a0He chose to give to the poor all his property except what he and his sister needed to live on.<\/p>\n

Later on, hearing Matthew 6:34, ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. \u00a0Today’s trouble is enough for today,’\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0Anthony gave away what little remained, entrusted his sister to a convent, and moved out of the village to live a life of prayer, fasting, and manual labour. \u00a0For him, listening to Jesus\u2019 words wasn’t enough; he had to live the call those words expressed.<\/p>\n

It is said two Greek philosophers, educated in languages and rhetoric, came to the Egyptian desert where Anthony lived. \u00a0Anthony asked them why they had come to talk to such a foolish man as he. \u00a0He had reason to say that: they saw before them a man who wore camel skin and who lived on bread and water. \u00a0They were Greek, the world’s most admired civilisation, and Anthony, an Egyptian, was from a conquered nation. \u00a0Anthony needed an interpreter to speak to them. \u00a0He saw himself, in their eyes, as very foolish.<\/p>\n

The Greek philosophers had heard stories of Anthony; how disciples came from all over to learn from him, how his intercession had brought about miraculous healings, how his words comforted the suffering. \u00a0They assured him that they had come because he was a wise man.<\/p>\n

Anthony guessed they wanted to hear his words and his arguments on the truth of Christianity and the value of asceticism. \u00a0He refused to play their game and told them: ‘If you think me wise, become what I am, for we ought to imitate the good. \u00a0Had I gone to you, I should have imitated you, but, since you have come to me, become what I am, for I am a Christian.’<\/p>\n

Anthony pointed out to the Greek philosophers that their arguments would never be as strong as faith since all rhetoric, all arguments, no matter how complex, were created by human beings whereas it is God who imparts faith. \u00a0If they wanted to live the greatest ideal, they should follow the path to faith in Jesus.<\/p>\n

Jesus, if it may be said, is the authentic \u2018riches to rags to riches\u2019. \u00a0In Jesus, God emptied Himself in order to re-embrace his lost creation and bring us to a new closeness of relationship as his adopted children. \u00a0St Paul\u2019s Letter to the Philippians (2:5) sums it up: ‘Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. \u00a0And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. \u00a0Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’<\/em><\/p>\n

St. Anthony the Abbot, like each human being, received a personal call from God. \u00a0Discerning the content of our personal vocation is a work-in-progress that begins afresh each day we wake and, with thanksgiving, prepare to listen, with our heart, to the Lord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (4 August 2013) ‘Rags to Riches v Riches to Rags’ (Readings at Mass: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23; Colossians: 3:1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21) The hope of \u2018rags to riches\u2019 prompts the sale of lottery tickets. \u00a0\u2018Riches to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archdiocese-of-liverpool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4124,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4123\/revisions\/4124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}