It’s mine, no, I had it first! I can still hear the squabbling sounds of young children not wanting to share. And I can also remember the tug of war battles I have had with my siblings as we each tried to gain dominance over a thing we each wanted and thought we desperately needed or deserved. We heard in the Gospel this morning: “But God said to him, ‘Fool, this night they demand thy soul from thee; and what thou didst prepare, for whom shall it be?’ “Thus is the one who treasureth up for himself, and is not rich toward God.” [Lk. 12:20-21] Perhaps at that age we were too young to understand the gift of sharing!
It’s mine; it is my turn! I hear this at church some too as people become less of a servant and more about demanding that their wants and needs be met. The church is one body, when a part of the body suffers, the whole body in affected! We all need to be here, it is our prescription for healing.
It’s mine; you always get the first pick. So many things sparkle and glitter and after we possess them, they lose that appeal and end up at a yard sale or deep in the closet or thrown up into the attic of our stuff-museum. “The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit,” so says Saint Basil the Great!
It’s mine, I need all this money for my stuff and its monthly payments, and God will just have to wait! Someone else will take care of the poor; after all they continue to make bad choices that keep them cold, naked and hungry! The celebration of Thanksgiving is about giving alms and sacrificing our time for others. As Saint Maximos the confessor said: “He who gives alms in imitation of God does not discriminate between the wicked and the virtuous, the just and the unjust, when providing for men’s bodily needs.”
As we begin this advent journey to Bethlehem, I hope and pray that we all can be less distracted with the mess and stress of stuff and family dynamics, and more open and observant to see those ways we can help our brothers and sisters in our families, here at church, at work, next door, and all those struggling to survive. The Nativity season is about giving through unselfish love and therefore as Saint Clement writes: our “Sins are purged by alms and acts of faith.” (St. Clement of Alexandria)
Our Father through His abundant mercy has given us the greatest gift and He was born poor, without stuff, in a barn amongst the animals and laid in a feeding trough or manager where the animals were usually fed their sustenance. And through His birth in a trough we all have been fed the necessities of the most precious everlasting life. May the mercy we have all been shown be an unlimited resource as we transform the world through Christ-like love, one act at a time, one person at a time, with continued repentance and service to all of God’s creation, the wicked and the virtuous. The world is need of a Savior; we simply have less time for stuff and need to spend more time working in His vineyard, being truly thankful for all that we have been given. Everything that is, is HIS!
