WHO WILL GET THEM ALL?

 WHO WILL GET THEM ALL?

I was told that rabbis were usually asked to arbitrate in cases of monetary or material disputes. They were expected to act as judges and to deal out justice to parties locked in petty conflict. The passage suggests that the case between two brothers is not petty at all. It was monetary. It had to do with something so hotly contested even by siblings everywhere—inheritance.

The Lord was reluctant. He had neither intention nor desire to be a judge—and meddle with a domestic dispute. But the Lord was a teacher par excellence. Right after sort of saying “no” to the plea, He saw the opportunity of a teaching moment. So He told them a parable.

The parable alludes to a current trend all over the world as far as the “me generation” is concerned—the rise of the so-called narcissism epidemic. The rich man had all the classic signs of narcissism. It was all about him. He complained he had no more room to hold everything in. But he had a plan. He simply aimed at making bigger and bigger barns. And he has no one else to reward but his brilliant self: “Take your rest, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.” He never saw anyone beyond himself. He never saw anything beyond his world.

Spoiled brats are sprouting everywhere in our times. But brats now are different from brats then, who were always young children. Brats now could be as young as twelve and as old as seventy-two. Age doesn’t matter half as much as attitude. It has to do with a humongous ego.

Truth to tell, it is the potential story of you and me. As a counselor, I am all too familiar with individuals who are self-promoters. You talk to them for five minutes and all five minutes are taken up by a “praise release” about, who else, but themselves. Their successes and their achievements sound like no barn or wall is big enough to contain the citations and awards—real or imagined.

Nothing is wrong with success and nothing is amiss with owning stuff. But the Lord has a stern warning: “Who will get them all in the end?” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

---------- REFLECTION QUESTION ----------

If you were to die tomorrow, how do you plan to dispose of your possessions?

Give me a sense of detachment from material things, Lord, so that I may always cling only to what’s most essential—You. Amen.

Today, I pray for: __________________________