Fr. Simon's Letter - July 31, 2022

For most of us, summer is when “everyday” life closes down, and people can "vacate" their day-to-day activities and responsibilities. Some of us are taking family trips for relaxation. Others enjoy backyard BBQs and working in the garden. Here at QAS, this is when we are busy with the regular summer tasks of attending to building needs so we can be ready for the new school year. Along with the school, this summer, following a five-year repair and wait of the side altars, we began to install the marble background over the altars. Completing this work in the next couple of weeks will restore the side altars to their original glory. Thank you for your patience and support.

In addition to recreation, adventure, and busyness, we should remember that summer is also a time to reflect, not just on what we do, but on who we are—and to WHOM we truly belong. It is a time of "re-creation," to "re-discover" much more deeply than before, what our lives and our witness as God's children are all about.

Today's readings from scripture resonate with a clear message, one we know so well but often forget: we can't take our possessions with us when we die.

So, what is worth striving for? What achievements are worthwhile? "Vanity of vanities, all things are vanity," Ecclesiastes reminds us. It is sheer vanity to place our hope and our confidence in things as if things were the measure of a good life or any insurance for the next. 

The Gospel of Luke then brings the message home with Jesus' story of the rich man with a bountiful harvest; so large he has to build new barns to store it. With such a bounty in place, the man is confident that his wealth and prosperity will be assured for a lifetime. He forgets that our life here on earth is short and that there is no knowing when the end will come. In Jesus' story, God speaks to the man, what then of your possessions when you die? What value are they to you then? The message is for each one of us. We can’t take our possessions with us when we die. 

So what is worth living for? What really matters? How do we want our friends, colleagues, neighbors, and family to assess us when we are gone? Will they wish we spent more time at work, or will they wish we spent more time with them? Will they say they wish we'd left more money and things for them? Or, would they prefer that we'd given more generously of our time, energy, love, and concern to them, assisting them in their difficulties, lending a hand in times of trouble, consoling them in times of sorrow? 

More questions stir. Had we really been there for others in good times and in bad? Were we a fair-weather friend who disappeared when the going got tough? Had we gone out of our way to help others? What would we like to hear them say of us? Would they describe us as generous and kind? As thoughtful, helpful, wise, and gracious? Would they remember us as a peacemaker, a bridge-builder among people, a good neighbor, and a genuinely good person?

Would they say we made a difference in their lives? Would they say that the world would be poorer for our passing? It's worth thinking about! For our end will surely come! Time is short and precious. How we spend our lives is much more important than the things we accumulate on the way. Jesus teaches us to focus on what is above, what is of heaven, centering our lives on God and striving to live a genuinely good life, helping to build a better and more just world.

Blessings!!