MATTERIALISM: POSSESSIONS

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

MATERIALISM: POSSESSIONS

Jesus says, "Take heed and beware of covetousness,
FOR ONE’S LIFE DOES NOT CONSIST IN THE
ABUNDANCE OF THE THINGS HE POSSESS" (Luke 12:15].

In the Gospel of Saint Luke the Evangelist we are given
the following Parable of Christ:

"The ground of a rich man, yielded plentifully. And he thought
within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do since I have no room to
store my crops? So he said, ‘ I will do this: I will pull down my
barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and
my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods
laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’
But God said to him, ‘Fool this night your soul will be required of
you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward
God" [Luke 12:16-21].

Man has proven over and over again to be a "fool" in all of his material quests and his obsession of becoming wealthy. He wastes his entire life to acquire as many possessions as possible. The rich man is a fool indeed, despite his material success, because he vainly puts all his trust in his possessions instead of God. HIs interests were reduced to an earthly good life and his thoughts and soul were distant from God and having a virtuous life. He also made the mistake to call everything his own, forgetting that everything belongs to God and not to him. We ought to know that we are simply travellers on this earth passing through and what we think we possess is given to us by God for temporary use. As a matter of fact our very life is in God’s hands and all its days are counted by God before our birth. The Psalmist writes: "My bone You made in secret was not hidden from You. And my substance was in the lowest part of the earth; Your eyes saw me when I was unformed" [Psalm  138:15-16]. By the way this psalm reveals the sanctity of life OF AN UNBORN CHILD and explain why both in ancient Israel and in the Church, ABORTING A BABE IN THE WOMB IS SEEN AS THE SIN OF MURDER.

"To be rich toward God" is to have a life of close communion with Him through faith and works of love. Our Lord Christ speaking to all says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where both moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart be also" [Matthew 6:19]. By attaching ourselves to "treasures on earth" (possession or material things) we cut ourselves off from heavenly treasures. We become slaves, not free in Christ. The heart of the believer, the faithful, lies in disentangling ourselves from the chains of earthly things, and attaching ourselves to God our Creator, the True Treasure. We have a need for certain material things. bit we use them according to God’s will and purposes.

Mankind has made things into an idol of worship. Man’s entire life revolves around purchasing luxurious and expensive things and displaying them to his friends as though they reflect his worth as a person. Part of it is his vanity and pride. In giving over our heart to "earthly treasures," a person becomes their slave. The Parable of the arrogant rich man relates to each of us and to every contemporary person of today. We are constantly looking for opportunities to shop, to buy more things and it resembles a drunk who is unable to contain himself from drinking although he knows the outcome will be bad for him. Many of the objects that we purchase end up either in the garage or the basement of the house. Some people after some time elapses conduct garage sales and one by one the objects which they held dear at one time they are now sold. The more charitable simply call for a pick up from the Salvation Army to help those in need.

Our Christian Saints who inherited the wealth of their parents once their parents died they would sell it and distribute the funds to the poor. Jesus speaks about a young rich man who said to Him that he had kept all the commandments. So "Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow Me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for HE HAD GREAT POSSESSIONS. Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter in the Kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God" [Matthew 19:16-24].

Salvation, my friends, does not depend on external things, whether they be many or few, great or small, but on the virtues of the soul–FAITH, HOPE, AND AGAPE–REWARD WHICH IS SALVATION. The phrase of a camel going through "the eye of a needle" means the difficulty of salvation for those who are attached to riches, just like the young man of the Parable. The rich man spoke to his soul in the Parable which indicates that he believes he has one. How many people, how many Christians not only speak but think of their immortal soul at all? Many neglect their soul and ignore to take good care of it and to nourish it, to clean it, to heal it, to preserve it whole and healthy. Christ Lord asks the question, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? [Matthew 16:26].

"And God formed man of the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man BECAME A LIVING SOUL" (Genesis 2:7). Two actions, or two aspects of action, are distinguished here, and they may be understood as simultaneous the formation of the BODY, and THE GIVING OF LIFE TO IT. Saint John Damascene notes: "The body and the soul were formed AT THE SAME TIME–not one before and the other afterwards. "According to the description of the Book of Genesis, God created the body of man from already existing earthly elements and He created it in a very special fashion: not by His command or word alone, as was done in the creation of the other creatures,but by HIS OWN DIRECT ACTION. This shows that man, even in his bodily organization, IS A BEING SURPASSING ALL OTHER CREATURES FROM THE VERY BEGINNING OF HIS EXISTENCE. Further, it is said that God breathed into his face the breath of life and the man became a living soul…"

"The body must serve as the companion, organ, and even fellow laborer OF THE SOUL. It depends on the soul itself whether to lower itself to such an extent that it becomes the slave of the body, or, being guided by an enlightened spirit, to make the body its obedient executor and fellow laborer. Depending upon the soul, the body can be a vessel of sinful impurity and foulness, or it can become a temple of God, participating with the soul in the glorification of God." [This is taught in Holy Scripture (Romans 13L14; Galatians 3:3; 1 Corinthians (;27; Galatians 5:24).

__________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!:
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George