Devotional thoughts for the 4th Sunday after the feast of Holy Cross. 9th Oct 2011
In Daniel 4:27 we read, “Break off thy sins by righteousness and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor” Here mercy to the poor is assumed as a means to get the forgiveness of our sins and iniquities due to the mismanagement of the worldly riches. To have effective results of righteousness, we will have to lose the worldly riches to a certain extent, and so also for showing mercy to the poor and needy we will have to lose wealth with our own mind. In St. Matthew 6:19 we are advised not to accumulate wealth in the world, where it will not stay long with us. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.” If it is so what we must do with the wealth with us or the riches that have been handed over to us? Our Lord has given the answer to this question in St. Luke 11:41, where we read, “But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you” St. Paul’s vision and understanding on the topic is also not indifferent. He strongly advocates in I Timothy 6:17-18 “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.”
We all are reminded not to long to be rich by hook or crook. The needed wealth would be provided to each and everyone by God Almighty. We should not waste our time and talents in earning money and wealth through improper or unjust means and ways. The person who is living in God would not attempt to earn wealth through improper and unjust ways and means. Zacchaeus is the best example. He was rich by earning through improper means. But He realized his mistake and he was very happy in correcting himself by doing penalties for all his wrong doings. When our Lord visited him at his residence there took place the transformation. This sort of experience is to take place in our lives. Let us hope and pray for such a blessing to realize our weaknesses and drawbacks.
In verse 13 we listen: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” Instead of this saying, we often say one cannot put his one leg in a boat and the other leg in another boat. In the contemporarily world we often try to serve God along with serving the Mammon. Mammon often appears in various shapes and forms. We often prefer to adjust with mammon instead of leaving the same away from the stream of our lives. We are not worried if mammon is taking a strong hold in our lives. Let us remember that the mammon will not help us in any way. They only drag us and keep us away from the presence of God. Mammon enters in our lives slowly but establishes the bondage strongly and strongly so that we might not achieve a freedom on our own effort upon our realization. Addiction to any sort of intoxication develops in our lives very slowly. But we often forget that their growth and development is so strong. People fall victims of such evil habits so soon on attractions of various natures. In many cases friends and colleagues attracts others to the beginning of the use of intoxication. Why to find fault with the friends and colleagues who must have been instrumental for being victims of the evil habit? God’s Holy Spirit is advising each and every one of us when we think of doing something and the Holy Spirit would tell us whether it is good or bad. We all have to listen and consult the Holy Spirit in us. Our Holy Church has separated Oct, Nov and Dec of 2010 as “the anti-intoxication (Lahari virudha)” months. Let us examine ourselves whether we are victims/slaves of this evil habit and seek the immediate step to get freedom if we are already victims. Let us sincerely desire to get a freedom from this. So also let us think about the brethren who are there as victims of this great danger. Let us pray for them and for the success of the attempt of our Mother Church in this regard.
May God bless us all.
Jose Kurian Puliyeril
Kottayam.