The Church reminds us in the Vatican II document on the Church in the modern world, that by seeking first the kingdom of God we will derive from it a stronger and purer love for helping our brothers and sisters and for accomplishing the task of justice under the inspiration of charity.
There are nearly 12 million unemployed Americans; it means that the jobless rate in the USA is near 7.6 percent. It says to us that many people struggle every day, and that many others worry about losing their jobs. Our community that is a parish is called to help those in need. We all have something that we can share.
Possessing goods isn’t wrong; moreover, it is even one of our human rights. The key here is about helping the needy.
In the Bible we can find strong words of condemnation of the rich from the letter of James (5:2) because of people’s selfishness. The goods could be given to the poor. If someone has a lot of goods and hoards them, allowing such goods to rot, this is against the principle of sharing a common good and love with others. My dear friends, everything is perishable, but only an act of love stays. St. John’s parish has a reputation of helping people in the community. What the parish has, we share with others.
Do not place confidence in your earthly goods. Living on earth in selfish luxury and pleasure is only temporary. Practical materialism leads to individualism, utilitarianism and hedonism. Then the quality of life is understood to mean wealth and pleasure. Look at Jesus Christ. His life from the beginning was very simple. Where was He born? How did he live? Indeed, Jesus Christ is God, and He always acted with simplicity.
There are strong words of condemnation of the rich from James’s letter because of another reason. The cries of poor have reached the ears of the Lord, as we have heard, because of the wages they withheld from the workers. The rich are condemned because they do not give what is due to the poor (James 5:4)
How should we act? The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us to treat people with mercy. Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”
Fr. Rafal Duda,
Parochial Vicaar