REV. FR. GABRIEL AZEEZ

 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Looking at the readings presented before us today, we will discover that we have more than enough themes to ponder on.

The first reading reminds us of the vanity and emptiness of most of what we pursue in life. It is an invitation for us to place proper value on what attracts us to set our priorities right. The second reading exhorts us to focus on what is not vanity, rather on currency that really matters in the economy of heaven. Imagine for a moment you are in a foreign country. You reach into your wallet, hand over a thousand naira to buy a bottle of water, and the vendor smiles politely and says, Sorry, we don’t accept this currency here. No doubt, you are holding money, but it has no value in such land. That, in essence, is what today’s Gospel warns us about: investing everything in a currency that holds no value in heaven.

In the gospel reading of today, Jesus is approached by someone asking Him to intervene in a family dispute over inheritance. But Jesus does not address the legalities. Instead, He tells the Parable of the Rich Fool, a man who had so much grain, he needed to build bigger barns. He said to himself, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This night your life will be demanded of you. The man was rich in earthly terms, but bankrupt in what matters most. St. Paul echoes this in Colossians 3, urging us to seek the things that are above and to put to death greed, which he calls idolatry. Greed blinds us. It convinces us that more is never enough. And like the man in Ecclesiastes, we may end up toiling day and night, only to leave everything behind.

We may want to ask, what is the Heavenly Currency? If earthly wealth is not acceptable in heaven, then what currency is? Heavenly currency is measured not in dollars, gold, or properties, but in love, mercy, generosity, faith, and trust in God. It is stored not in barns or banks, but in the heart of God. Jesus says in Matthew 6:20, Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. This treasure grows when we forgive, when we serve, when we give quietly, and when we choose humility over pride.

Let me share a story of one Joseph with you. There once was a quiet old man named Joseph who lived in a small village. He had no wealth, no land, and no family left. Many in the town pitied him. But Joseph was known for one thing: he helped everyone. He fixed broken chairs, cooked meals for the sick, and always had a kind word. When he died, only a handful came to his funeral because he was not rich and influential. But that night, a dream spread across the village. People saw Joseph in dazzling robes, welcomed by angels, embraced by Christ Himself. In the dream, Jesus said, He was poor in the world’s eyes, but rich in mine. What the villagers saw as poverty, God saw as heavenly treasure.  This is not an incentive to lazy around and to become poor, poverty is not a ticket to gain access to heaven. We must understand that on the last day, many multimillionaires will be in heaven and many poor people will be excluded, because God will not judge you based on what you possessed but how you were possessed by what you possessed.

Jesus is not telling us to abandon our jobs or families. He is telling us to reorder our priorities. We need to ask: Where is my treasure? Where is my heart? If our lives are consumed with “more,” we will miss the quiet joys of “enough.” If our hands are always grasping, we have no room to receive. If our barns are full but our hearts are empty, we are indeed poor. Instead, let us invest daily in heavenly currency, a word of encouragement, a generous act unnoticed by others, a moment of prayer when no one is watching, a sacrifice made for love. These are deposits that heaven accepts.

The good news is that God’s exchange rate is generous. He takes even the smallest coin of kindness and multiplies it. He takes a widow’s mite and turns it into a lesson for the ages. He takes our humble offerings and makes them eternal treasures. So today, let’s review our wallets not the ones in our pockets, but the ones in our souls. What currency are we accumulating? Will it be accepted at the gates of heaven? Let us become rich, not in things, but in God. Shalom!