Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ‘C’

The main message in today’s readings is simple, but challenging: Chasing after wealth,  possessions, and status isn’t what life is about. All those things are temporary, and real meaning only comes when we use what we have to help others. 

In the First Reading from Ecclesiastes, we hear that building up a pile of stuff, like money,  things, or achievements, doesn’t really matter in the end. Sooner or later, we all die, and someone else ends up with what we worked for. Maybe they’ll use it well, maybe not, but we can’t take any of it with us. 

Responsorial Psalm 90 invites us to listen for God’s voice and let Him soften our hearts. It’s easy to get stuck in a “me-first” way of thinking, but God invites us to be open, generous, and grateful. 

Paul, in the Second Reading, warns that the desire for more - whether it’s money, stuff, or praise - turns our focus away from what really matters. He calls this kind of desire “idolatry”  because it puts something other than God in the center of our lives. Instead, Paul tells us to keep our eyes on what’s truly valuable: faith, hope, love, and living as people made new by  God. 

In the Gospel, Jesus tells a story about a man who kept piling up wealth, building bigger barns to store all his grain and goods, but never thought of sharing. He thought he would live a long,  easy life enjoying his stuff, but that night his life ended. Jesus calls him a “fool” because he never realized that everything he had was on loan from God, and he never used it to help others. 

These readings challenge us to think about what we do with what we have. Our money, our time, our talents, even our energy and kindness are all gifts from God. We are supposed to use them not just for ourselves, but to lift up others. This is true whether we have a lot or a little:  maybe you can share a laugh, a listening ear, a helping hand, or encouragement as much as you can share money or stuff. 

God invites us to be generous because that is how we show love, and how our own hearts grow. Instead of being owned by our possessions, let’s use them to serve a bigger purpose. • Be honest about what “greed” looks like in your life. Maybe it’s wanting more stuff, more attention, more control, or filling ourselves with habits that leave us empty. • Consider giving away a portion of your income or resources, as the Bible suggests (like tithing 10%), but don’t stop there—be generous with your friendship, support, and time. • Remember: What matters most isn’t how much we have, but whether we are “rich in the sight of God”, measured by love and generosity.

Let’s break the habit of hoarding only for ourselves and use what God has given us, however big or small, to make the world a little brighter for someone else. That is where real happiness and security come from.