Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
OLR, NOLA
God
says to the man who would store up his treasures in this world, “You
fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things
you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” Forget – for a
moment – about the things that you store up. And forget about to
whom they will belong after you die. This night your life will be
demanded of you – to
whom do you
belong?
Your things come
and go. Your things aren't immortal. But you are. So: who owns you?
Who rules you? Our Lord is asking a question that demands much more
than just a promise of allegiance, or a statement of mere belief.
He's asking you and me to decide where we stand in this world while
we prepare for the next. Christ is asking you and me to make a
choice: me or the
world? Your life will
be demanded of you. It's your choice. We can look to our assets, our
earning potential, and we can do a quick calculation. We could
be better off
submitting to the world – if this world is where we hope to find
our end. But this world is passing; it's temporary. And finding your
hope here – among all these fading away things – is foolishness.
And yet it appears that we are living in an age of foolishness. To
survive, listen to Paul: “Put to death, then, the parts of you that
are earthly. . .”
When
we live to accumulate the things of this world rather than to serve
the Lord for His greater glory, we swear ourselves to the service of
Nothing. Nothing is our god. We love Nothing. We have absolute faith
in Nothing. Nothing matters. And Nothing is our purpose in life. As
we watch this world slowly grind itself to its bloody end, we can
depend on Nothing to spare us; Nothing will provide what we need. Why
is Nothing so accommodating, so solicitous of our desires? Because
Nothing has nothing to lose by promising us everything we imagine
that are we entitled to. Nothing has nothing to give, so promising us
everything costs nothing. When we live by the values and
philosophies of this world rather than the the Word of God and His
Church, we sell our souls to the spirit of the age, giving ourselves
away cheaply to both new and ancient falsehoods. The greatest lie of
this generation – one we can see celebrated in every element of our
daily lives – this lie tells us that we are nothing but random bits
of matter accidentally arranged by impersonal cosmic forces, thrown
haphazardly into sentience, and destined for nothing more than
complete annihilation after death. This lie – both its new and
ancient versions – is the creed of nihilism, the worship of
Nothingness and the negation of life.
It
might seem that our preacher, Qoheleth, is a nihilist. He laments
life's futility, “Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities! All
things are vanity!” But the vanity of the life that Qoheleth
laments is simply how we mere mortals see the workings of the world.
He's not celebrating life as futile, or holding out vanity as the
only truth. At most, he's regretting what he sees as the overall
unfairness of it all, while wanting life to be truly just and
purposeful. To achieve that end, Paul offers the soundest advice,
“Put to death. . .the parts of you that are earthly; immorality,
impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.”
While Qoheleth wails against the futility of striving in a world that
cannot reward striving, Paul suggests killing in ourselves anything
that binds us too closely to the world. When the world passes, or
when we pass from the world, our ties should easily unknot and see us
safely free. To believe that there is Something More, that there is
Someone More waiting for us when we are set free is the antithesis of
nihilism. To live now in the belief that Someone More wants us with
Him forever is what keeps us striving toward holiness and away from
the Nothing's altars.
You
might wonder how a good Catholic can be tempted to nihilism? Perhaps
some of us here tonight have been seduced in some small way toward
offering Nothing a pinch of incense. Paul names a few of the
temptations: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and
idolatry. Maybe, for example, some of us believe that sexual behavior
outside marriage isn't all that bad. Or that two men or two women can
be truly married. Or maybe, someone here privately believes that
abortion is bad but that the State shouldn't have a say in the
matter. Or maybe, that we should only allow certain races of people
across our borders, or that we as a people have no responsibility to
take care of God's creation, or that there are no differences btw men
and women, therefore we can pick our own sex; or that science has the
answers to our all problems. Each one of these tempts us to embrace
an earthly lie and leads us toward renouncing our pursuit of
holiness. How? By showing us how to pick away at our foundation, our
faith in God. Whether we are tempted to embrace the idolatry of
gender politics, or demean human life in the act of abortion, or
degrade a person b/c of race, or reject the life-giving gift of sex –
whatever the temptation, underneath is a rejection of God and His
providential rule. Underneath is Nothing.
So,
Christ asks again, “This night your life will be demanded of you. .
.to whom will [your things] belong?” Forget the things you own. And
answer instead: to
whom will you belong?
To whom
do you belong now? If you belong to the things, the ideas, the values
of this world, then you will follow your owners in passing into
nothingness when they pass. If you belong to Christ now, then you
will pass into life eternal. If you belong to Christ now, then the
temptations of Nothingness seem foolish and Qoheleth is right, “All
is vanity!” But if you find yourself in the company of nihilists –
and you will – the pressure to submit to the Spirit of the Age will
be intense, maybe even irresistible. Turn you heart and mind back to
God and remember your true purpose here on Earth: to serve Him by
serving His people, to always seek His will for your life, and to
bear witness to His mercy for all sinners. Nothing can promise and
cajole and tempt, but Nothing cannot bring you to freedom, or place
you at the banquet table. Only Christ Jesus brings us peace forever.
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