18th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 31st July, 2016
Eccl 1:2, 2:21-23; Col 3:1-5,9-11; Lk 12: 13-21
There are techniques in photography where they communicate merely out of the way an image is clicked into to the camera. It all depends on the Focus! For a happy and serene life too, we need a focus - the right focus, the faith focus!
A life Out of Focus:
At times today persons live a life that is out of focus. They do a whole lot of things, thinking they are taking their life ahead towards a finer point, while everything go wayward. Even as I share this, I have in mind a youngster known to me, who is struggling in life, not because he is incapable nor because he is bad; he is just out of focus with his life. He takes up a lot of things one after the other, only to find himself dissipated and frustrated, every time starting from ground zero. What is the problem?
A life with a Wrong Focus:
This is a more dangerous phenomenon. If being out of focus with life is a pitiable condition, living life with a wrong focus is a fearful condition. There are three wrong focuses that ruin the world today: Me, Money and Might! Focus on oneself, one's ego, one's own betterment even at the cost of the other, makes this world a loveless place - from this arises all the violence and crime that we witness today. Focus on Money, possession, pleasure and prestige, makes human beings turn into animals with absolutely no conscience and common sense. Focus on being powerful, on domination and hegemony, wipes out races as we have seen in history.
The Faith Focus:
The right focus is the faith focus! It is not against me, neither is it against money nor against might. Everything from the point of view of the One who has given it to me! Qohelet in the first reading speaks of a condition of life that is lived out of focus...doing a lot of things without knowing for what and upto what! Jesus tells us of a life that is lived with a wrong focus - hoarding wealth for a tomorrow that never exists.
St. Paul invites us to look for the things that are heavenly. Let your thoughts be on heavenly things, not on the things that are on the earth, says the Word. A serene way of life would be to live our life to the full at any given point of time, with a sense of gratitude to the one who has given us this life, with a sense of search that makes this life better for me and for everyone around me, with a sensitivity towards all those around me who are in some need or the other taking responsibility for their well being. The world has gone far, far away from this kind of a thinking to a point of no return. That leaves us with just one option: Create a brand new world...every day, in every way, live and inspire people to live with this focus. Let me begin with myself, inspire others and create a world within this world, a world where life is lived with the right focus - the faith focus!