8th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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The X Factor, Big Brother, Come Dine with me, Wife Swap, How to look good naked and so on and so on here we have a list of shows that promise and seek fame. They also promise wealth but it seems that it is missing out on something really quite fundamental. The pursuit of fame and wealth seems to be the new God.  And there is a lot to tempt us with this new God.  Let us take the National lottery and even the classic games show Deal or no Deal. What actually both of them do is play on the feeling that we don’t have enough of what society calls good and also on our people’s sense of greed.

I wonder though what is behind all of this why do people want to feel that to make it means to have a load of money and fame. Surely it says something about the human condition. Surely it says something about us as a human race that money and power and fame have become important for us. After some reflection on this I think that it may go a lot deeper.

I think that a lot of people are searching for meaning and solutions to the problems of tomorrow and think that wealth and fame will be the answer to all their problems. They have little or no self esteem to draw upon and so they look for externals for love and this comes out in the pursuit of fame and wealth. There is little love for self and no time for a God who is love. Yet what in fact we do see is the Gospel tells us something different.

What Jesus tells us is that we should not worry because God will take care of us and ourselves and ultimately loves us. Don’t worry because the day will take care of itself. We need to be open to the possibilities of God working through us and working through our human experience and the people he has sent to help us. So if you are a natural worrier as I am generally myself we must learn to trust and be open to the possibilities of God taking care of things. This may take a long time because God does not work very fast he gives us the possibility of learning patience.

But this should not be a passive faith and trust in God. There is part of us that need to do something too. Over the last few weeks you, in your newsletter, have seen the great the work Knights of St Columba do in our parish. They through their active faith help us priests in the running of the Parish. I have to say that since I have been here in the parish I have really appreciated the help of the Knights and their support. But we have a problem and that is that the escalating demands on our time as Priests means that we need more help from the Knights and so if you would like to know more please see on the of the knights after Mass today. Jesus says at the end of today’s Gospel that “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” I have to say that the knights help reduce that trouble so thank you for the work you do and for the continued support and help here in the parish to build the Kingdom of God.

www.ksc.org.uk

Comments

Mark said…
Interesting article Father. I find the difficulty is knowing how proactive to be! God helps those who help themselves. Perhaps, the game show contestants think they are being proactive to gather more moss during hard times? Or maybe they should trust in God a little more? Difficult to discern.
3 March 2011 at 12:50
Peter Fitch said…
I think that sometimes follow what can be considered impossible dreams. This happens because we don't focus on what is right and that is the love of God and learning to love ourselves.But I agree with you that is difficult to discern
4 March 2011 at 23:17
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