How much would cruise passengers be willing to spend for a night in the largest suite on brand-new luxury ship? Regent Seven Seas Cruises is betting that its ultra-wealthy guests would drop $25,000 for a single night in the Skyview Regent Suite.
That price tag affords guests 8,794 square feet of space in a sprawling two-level suite. The ship is set to sail out of Miami in December 2026. If that seems to be out of your means, maybe you could try to hitch a ride on the History Supreme yacht, the $4.8 Billion yacht owned by Robert Kuok, a Malaysian businessman.
And then you listen to Jesus in today’s Gospel (Luke 12:13-21). A man spends his whole life becoming rich. He tears down his barns to build bigger ones. He makes plans to enjoy the rest of his life with all that he has accumulated.
But in the middle of it all God speaks: “You fool!” The man is about to die and everything he has collected will be gone. “You fool!” Those of us hearing this can only wonder, “Is God talking to me?”
You know how it is – “The more you have, the more you want.” Who is happier, the man with $10 million or the man with 10 kids? Answer: The man with 10 kids, HE DOESN’T WANT ANY MORE! More than any example I have ever used, this one really gets people thinking.
I remember when I had and enjoyed owning a cell phone. Then in 2007 Apple came out with the I-phone. I said to myself, “I don’t need that!” But when I saw others around me with a smart phone and I learned all it could do, I had to find Kleenex to wipe off the drool from my mouth! Recently I bought my 6th new I-phone. I kept wondering if I was “tearing down a barn” to get a new one.
This is the world we live in and this is the world Jesus lived in too. Our toys and our wants have changed, but our impulses have not changed. We hear in our first reading, “Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!” (ECC 1:2). But God still puts it best: “You fool!”
We spend so much of our lives trying to get what we really DON’T NEED. So often we lose sight of what we DO NEED.
In the Gospel Jesus cautions us about storing up treasures for ourselves while not being “rich in what matters to God.” Jesus doesn’t say we can’t have treasures. But we need to be “rich in what matters to God.”
Over the last few weeks, as we’ve listened to Luke’s Gospel, we’ve been hearing about “what matters to God.” We have been told to not look at what was left behind….to be bearers of peace….to love God and our neighbor like the Good Samaritan did….and last week Jesus taught us how to pray the Our Father.
THESE WORDS OF JESUS ARE EASY TO FORGET OR NEGLECT WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY NEW TOYS WAITING FOR US TO BE BOUGHT.
Certainly the poor matter to God. Jesus identifies himself with the poor. “I was hungry and thirsty, I was naked and in need, and if you fed or gave me a drink or clothed me and did it to the least of my sisters and brothers…..you did it to me”.(Matthew 25).
Fifteen years ago I was in Haiti in Cite Soleil, one of the largest and worst slums in the world. Many of the children were naked. I asked a bare 7-year old girl if she had a dress to wear. She replied: “Yes, I have one dress. My mother is washing it right now.” The girl may well have been telling me a big, white lie.
Each and every one of God’s children, rich or poor, matters to God. How can a loving God allow so many of his children in our world to simply exist in a world of such abject poverty?
All I can think of when I visit Haiti is: “What if I came out of a womb here in Haiti instead of a womb in the United States? The chances to pull myself up by my own bootstraps and have a decent life would be the same as winning a $800 million Lotto.
The words of Mother Teresa often ring in my head: “The rich are in control of this world….The poor will be in control of the world yet to come.”
WHEN WE FINALLY REALIZE WE AREN’T ENTITLED TO ANYTHING, WE BECOME GRATEFUL FOR EVERYTHING.
What are YOUR thoughts today as YOU hear Jesus say to YOU: “You Fool!” about some of the things YOU are killing yourself to obtain?
IF YOUR INVESTMENTS ARE LIMITED TO THIS EARTH, YOU CERTAINLY ARE THE WORLD’S WORST INVESTOR!!
Please don’t be afraid to share today’s Gospel Message with someone else and have a discussion with them.
