Do you have a tendency to accumulate possessions? How attached are you to them? - Daily Reflections October 20,2014

RICH IN WHAT MATTERS TO GOD

 

Contrary to what people might think, the problem of postmodernity is not the people’s attachment to things and possessions. It is the opposite. People now are too detached from their possessions, for one reason — we have become a culture of consumers. In consumerism, William Kavanaugh tells us, the basic issue is not about having more, but about having something else. And so, the endless cycle of shopping till you drop takes place.

       Shopping has become a part of the phenomenon called addiction. People become addicted to something different, something unique, something quite unlike what the common masses have — and so the culture of the so-called signature items now rules the roost everywhere. Greed has taken on a new face, and it is not just about accumulating. It is all about being more, being different, being unique, and being a cut above the rest. This entails throwing away what you have so as to have the elusive something else.

       The Lord counsels us to be on guard against all greed, but it might just as well be being on guard against cupidity, against unbridled desire, against wanting not just more, but something else — something that the guy next to me doesn’t have. The quantitative aspect does not matter much anymore, but the qualitative, the patently unique and different.

       Greed now has shed off its love affair with having possessions that endure, but possessions that are not meant to last. The Gospel parable rings true: “I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.” It almost sounds like, “I will trade off this gadget and get the latest.” But six months later, the same cycle happens all over again.

       In the final analysis, whether we hold on to our possessions or throw them away at will after a short period of time, the exact same principle of greed is at work. The only difference is that the focus is not on something per se, but on something else.

       It may do us good to shift our focus on being “rich in what matters to God.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Do you have a tendency to accumulate possessions? How attached are you to them?

 

Tame my desires, Lord, that I may not be overly materialistic. Help me to focus more on what matters to You.