Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I have just returned from Paraguay, named in a global survey as the happiest and most positive country in the world. After a glorious welcome at the airport by a harpist, two classical guitarists, and a host of other people, I was sure that the survey was accurate. The drive from the airport to our hosts’ homes made me skeptical. Who did they talk to? Certainly not the man selling fruits at the traffic lights! Certainly not the woman selling trinkets on the streets with a child in hand! Who did they talk to? In four days, my skepticism was laid to rest. Living amidst the people revealed what would be hidden to the superficial eye. Over four days I encountered some of the most hospitable, happy, and positive people I have ever met. What is the secret? I do not want to be simplistic, romanticize Paraguay’s social issues or suggest that I have discovered utopia. In four days and a brief homily, it is impossible to uncover the complexities of Paraguayan social life. However, my experience in Paraguay takes me helps me understand Jesus when he says that we must be “rich in what matters to God.” And that is the secret of the Paraguayan community we met. I met a people rich in what matters to God. I did not encounter the vanity that today’s first reading speaks about. I did not meet a people obsessed with money, wealth, and possessions. I did not encounter self-obsessed people. The secret to the happiest and most positive nation is that they are “rich is what matters to God.”
Drawing on my limited experience in Paraguay and today’s scripture readings, I would like to offer three points for reflection based on today’s scripture.
1. Vanity – The Root of Discontent! Vanity is defined as“pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements.” Let me tell you Ramon’s story. Ramon was our mentor in Paraguay. He works in a factory about 350 kilometers from home. He returns home every two weeks to be with his wife and children. By our standards, Ramon is poor. For our visit, however, Ramon took the entire week off from work. He became our guide, our mentor, and our bodyguard! But what made his service truly selfless that Ramon went without pay. Moreover, he only very reluctantly accepted the gas money we offered him. Later, in the trip when we thanked him, he replied, “Jesus said, “I came not to be served but to serve.” My mission is to imitate Jesus!” Ramon’s approach to life is the opposite of vanity. Rather, his approach to life is based on faith. Faith and life are seamless realities for Ramon. Instead of focusing on his own self, his own need, his own limitations, he made himself selflessly and sacrificially available for us. Juan Carlos and his wife Sylvia were yet another couple that set their life aside and cared for us. Over time, I realized that people like Ramon, Juan Carlos, and Sylvia are not rare in the community. Their selflessness, their genuine human concern, their sacrificing nature, their care for other’s needs emerges from their faith. Faith drives their daily life in a deeply authentic way. This is meaning of being rich in what matters to God.
2. The Antidote to Vanity - St. Lucia Chapel. Today’s gospel reading is a great example of vanity. There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. Note that he was already rich. But when his land produced a bountifully, because he had no space to store his harvest, he decided to tear down his barns and build larger ones. And then he said to himself, “Rest, eat, drink, and make merry!” This is vanity. Let me now tell you about the community of Santa Lucia. We lived in a little suburb of Asunción called, Nemby. There are two chapels in Nemby – Santa Ana y San Juaquin (the one we have a twinning relationship with), and Santa Lucia! I will share about Santa Ana y San Juaquin another time. Today, I want to focus on Santa Lucia. The story behind this chapel is astounding. The community of Santa Lucia was formed as a result of a natural disaster. To escape life-threatening floods, desperate people fled to this waste land and began to settle down. They had nothing! They had nothing, except themselves. Over time, the government gave the settlers ownership of the land. Today, the Santa Lucia neighborhood is a collection of numerous shanties. There is only a semblance of roads, and no drainage. The neighborhood is made up of extremely poor families. However, they are more than a neighborhood. They are a community. The community revolves around a soccer field and the chapel – Capilla Santa Lucia. The chapel does not have a door, and some windows are not up yet. Each Saturday, the people of this poor and dilapidated neighborhood do something marvelously holy! The community comes together to cook and provide a hearty meal for all children in the neighborhood. All the food is donated by the families of this poverty-ridden-neighborhood. The poorest Paraguayan we met surprised us with the richness of their heart. They are rich is what matters to God. This spirit of giving, this spirit of caring for others even in their poverty, this simplicity, this selflessness, this generosity of the people – this is what it means to be rich in what matters to God.
3. Families Without Vanity. If you noticed, today’s gospel reading began with a family discord. Somebody in the crowd asked Jesus to tell his brother to share the inheritance with him. Vanity breeds discord. Let me talk about the family in Paraguay! Just like for us, family is everything in Paraguay. But it is how family is defined that is different. Family does not mean the people who live in the house. Family is anybody who comes to the house. In the four days that we were there, we encountered a people connected with their humanity and their families. We became family. Paraguayan families are not obsessed with the TV or their phones. The living room dictates their family life. Families, children, adults, and grandparents sit in the living room, drink mate, and talk. Their day begins with a blessing. Children come and greet their parents each morning and with hands folded, seek a blessing. The parents make a sign of the cross over their children as a sign of blessing them. Prayer, worship, faith, and life are seamless in the families. Loyalty to the family, personal sacrifices for the common good of the family, a culture of hard work, daily family sit down meals, unparalleled hospitality towards all are typical of Paraguayan family life. The one thing that can destroy and often destroys family life is vanity. But vanity cannot destroy the Paraguayan family, because they are “rich in what matters to God.”
This Eucharist is an expression of the richness of God. May our participation in God’s richness make us rich in what matters to God.
- Satish Joseph