HOMILY PRONOUNCED BY MONS. DIEGO MONROY PONCE; GENERAL AND EPISCOPAL VICAR OF GUADALUPE, RECTOR OF THE SANCTUARY.
ORDINARY XVIII SUNDAY

Sunday, Augost 5th of 2007

BEING POOR TO BE FREE FOR THE KINGDOM.

The wise person of the first reading from this sunday says: Vanity of vanities, everything absolutely everthing is vanity; but we ask ourselves: is it truth that everything is vanity, void, without sense?, why?.

It seems that everything is question of how and how much we value the things, the events and the same life. If we make efforts to get what we consider what is very important and that has a great value and that it is over the rest of the things, then, at the time of truth we will recognize its limits.

In fatc, it is not pure vanity. It depends on the way that we take it. The unique absolute is the beginning of all the things, and the creatures: the unique absolute in everything is God. To put the whole interest in anything although it is sublime and noble, it will take (sooner or later) us to the disillusionment.

It is a good consideration of the goods of this world, of any nature: work, pleasure, knowledge, fame, intelligence, richness, and any ability, ¡the religiosity!, the virtues that are very appreciated, according to the expression of the author in other moments: do not be just in excess, nor become too wise (7,16).

If the things are seen in this way, it seems that nothing has value, because later or sooner we will be disappointed with many efforts. The author of the book says that at the end, the best thing is enjoying of which we have in the moment because it is a gift of God, then, as believer as he is, he recommends that what we have to keep is an attitude of submission and of respect before Him.

With the Qoheleth we are before a realistic vision, and I believe that it is not pessimistic about life. We can get from this teaching that it is very important to know how to be happy with what He grants to us at the moment, without greater pretensions. We can not include everything, we have to be humble.

As we see, not everything in the revelation of the Scripture, specially in the Old Testament, is clear and optimistic. For that reason this reflection must allow itself to be illuminated with the mystery of dead and risen Jesus Christ.

This is that the Gospel from today wants to teach us. In fact, Jesus says very clear that neither the money nor the material things can satisfy totally the man, whom ordinarily insists to much on to be happy accumulating the major amount and variety of them.

The fundamental problem, the truely tragic of the material comforts is that they catch easily the heart (the most intimate and deep of the man), it means, they dominate the human creature as if they were God. they try to supplant to the true God like an idol by the security that supposedly they can give us.

In a very ingenuous way, all kinds of virtues and advantages are attributed to the money, some people say: ¡the money can do everything!, but the criteria of the Gospel go in other direction. Jesus, in his preaching, invites us constantly to be poor, but we have to understand it through the gospel. According to the readings, the first one and the one of the gospel, it is about living in freedom with regard to the material goods. We have to use them for noble aims and not to allow that they possess us.

Then, the work can not have another purpose that the one to acquire the most possible. According to the Qoheleth, the important thing is to enjoy of the work as a gift of God, as well as of what by him we can get, and we have to thank for them, which are gifts of his benevolence. The goods are not in themselves the ones that can give us the security that we desire a lot. They are not absolute guarantee of a happy future, what assures the true happiness to us is the way as we use them to serve ourselves from them through the mercy and brotherhood. Specially from the ones that have less and that they can not pay us.

¡this does assure us life! ¡life in fullness! The one that Christ assures us.

It is necessary to leave ourselves in the God´s hands. The true faith consist on it. The faith with which we celebrate the Eucharist, in which God´s son liberate himself from everything, and he becomes the simple and poor nourishment to enrich us with his love and his kindness. In the Eucharist we have the gift, the most perfect as security for the present and the future.

The true richness of the disciple of Christ is here. Not everything is vanity, rather everything gets its true sense when we consider it as mean to serve.

May our little girl, the sweet lady from heaven; Holy Mary of Guadalupe transmits to us her simplicity and desire to do always the will of God and to serve with generosity our brothers.

Amen.