Homily originally presented August 4, 2019.

Don’t be fooled!

A year and a half into my first job as a Sales Rep for the Eastman Kodak Company, I got to attend my first National Sales Meeting at a posh resort. Now you may know that when you get several hundred success-driven sales reps together in one place for a meeting, you can just feel the energy and excitement in the air. And so it was!

I had been out selling in my Chicago territory for a year and I was anxious to hear

some words of wisdom from the top management of our Company.

Many of the Managers applauded the accomplishments that had been achieved by individual reps and we witnessed many of the prizes they were awarded, such as

Gold Watches, Blue Blazers, Money and Trips to wonderful destinations.  

And then we heard from the Vice President of the Division.

And what he said resonated with me and has stayed with me throughout my life.

He said, “Happiness is not to be found in a certain box on the organizational chart!”

You see, all big companies have Organizational Charts that show through a series of lines and boxes - the hierarchy of authority within the company – clearly showing who works for who – and the higher you go up the Org Chart, the more responsibility & authority you have and consequently, the more money you make.

Now the goal of many people, especially those in Sales, is to rise up through the ranks to one day have their name in the top boxes of the Organizational Chart.

The belief was ... that achieving that … would bring great happiness.

But here was a VP of the Company telling us not to be fooled into believing that happiness was to be found by making it to some box on the Organizational Chart!

It sounded like heresy in the company … and it gave a serious tone to the meeting.

This man, who had made it to the upper levels of management in a huge worldwide company was saying that happiness is not assured by getting the title Vice President

or Executive Vice President or President or Chairman of the Board!

That man had the courage to tell us, his Sales Force, not to think

that rising up the corporate ladder was the ultimate victory in life.

He said that we are mere “stewards” of all the gifts we possess

and that one day we will pass them on to someone else.

That’s the first time I ever heard the word steward and he explained ...

     a steward is someone who takes care of something ...but doesn’t get to keep it.

That makes all of us stewards … of everything we have …

because no one gets to keep material things beyond his lifetime!  

The material things we have are ours for a while, but one day we have to let em go!

And so this Vice President encouraged us to seek a balance in our lives ...

by attending to our families and our faith … as well as … to our business.

So you see ... I really did hear some wisdom ... at that National Sales Meeting!

This is precisely the wisdom that St. Paul emphasizes to us today in his letter to the Colossians as he says,    “Think of what is above, not what is on earth.”

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in attaining the things of this world. At first glance they look so good, and they bring us temporary pleasure, so we figure that if we get more and more of them, we’ll be more content and have more happiness in life.

This reminds me of the story of a wealthy Texas Rancher

who invited his Parish Priest over to his Ranch and proudly showed him around.

The Rancher took him to:

the North side of his property and pointed to the range

covered with hundreds of cattle.

then East side of the property and pointed to a Forest

                                                                dense with magnificent trees for timber.

then South side of his property and pointed to countless rows of corn

tall and ready for harvest.

then West side of his property and pointed to all his storage barns

and farming equipment.

The Rancher was beaming with pride

over all that he had accomplished and all that he had accumulated.

And then the little priest asked,

“I see what you have to the North, the South, the East and the West.

So what do you have in that direction?” (As he pointed heavenward)

The Rancher’s face fell and he became silent. You see, in working to cultivate things that he could see and touch, he neglected to cultivate something that he couldn’t see and couldn’t touch … namely his relationship with Almighty God.

It’s easy to make this mistake. All of us run the risk of being so caught up with the things that of this world that we neglect giving some or even any attention to God.  

There’s a name for people like this … they’re called fools.

At least that’s what Jesus called them in today’s Gospel!

Jesus tells of a rich man planning to build larger barns to store all his stuff  ...

believing that the only thing left for him to do would be ...

to sit back and enjoy himself … to eat, drink and be merry!

But God said to him, “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;

and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?”

Fool!      That’s not the name you want to be called … especially by God!

No, the name we want to be called by God is … “you good and faithful servant.”

Those are the very words Jesus will say to those on His right at the end of the age. “Come … good and faithful servant … inherit the

Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

You see, when God calls us from this life, we won’t get to carry earthly things with us. The only thing we’ll bring ... is ... our relationship with God!

As Jesus says today, “Take care to guard against all greed,

for though one be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Your Dignity is not based on what you possess!

Your Dignity is based on … who you are!

And who are you?

You’re a Creature … made in the image and likeness of God!

You’re a Child … who has God as your Father ... and Jesus as your brother!

But the world doesn’t tell you that.

In fact, the world tells you that possessions are everything …

that they’re the key to happiness … and the more you possess the happier you’ll be.

That’s a lie!

If happiness was truly connected to material possessions, there’d be a lot of happy people in this world, because there’s a lot of people with a lot of stuff!

But that’s not the case. In fact, if you look, you’ll see that many times

the wealthiest people are some of the unhappiest people in the world,

while some with only a few possessions are very happy indeed.

God’s message to us in our First Reading from Ecclesiastes is striking.

The author says, “All things are vanity!”

What is vanity?    It’s the English word we use for the Hebrew word    “hebel” ...

which means vapor ... puff of wind ... or expiring breath ...

all signifying something fleeting ... transitory ... and of no consequence.

Think of all the things we do to make ourselves look better …

Clothes, shoes, hair, nails, makeup, exercise, tattoos … it’s all Vanity!

Think of all the things we work to acquire …

cars, trucks, homes, lake-homes, boats, trophies, titles, toys … it’s all Vanity!

When Qoheleth says that … “All things are vanity”  he’s pointing out the truth that no matter how much you do to your body … or how much stuff you acquire …

you’ll leave it all here when you die!

He says, “This … is … a great misfortune.”

Meaning that to work and toil and labor for things ... is pointless because

you just have to leave them behind for someone else who did not work for them!

We need to see that our whole future will not be spent on this earth!

Only the shortest part of our future will be spent here on earth.

Even if you live to be 100 years old, that’s nothing compared to the rest of your future, which will be spent in eternity, either with God or apart from God, forever.

We’re reminded of this in Psalm 90 just prayed where the Psalmist says to God:

“You turn men back to dust … for a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday.”

And then he begs God, “Teach us to number our days aright.”

Much of the clamor for us to have more and more and more

comes from those who don’t know what the real purpose of our life is.

Our purpose, which is revealed in Scripture, is clearly defined on the first page of the Catechism. Here it is: The Life of Man – to know and love God.

How clear … how simple. It makes no mention of looking good or acquiring stuff.

We would do well to memorize the beautiful description of our purpose:

God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness

 freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life.  For this reason … God … calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength.”

That’s our purpose ... to know and love God so we can share in His blessed life!

And we can’t accomplish that ...  if all we focus on are the things that are North, South, East and West …. and we never take time to seek the things that are above.

St. Paul reminds us of this today in his passage from Colossians, saying:

“Seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

The key is not to be fooled. There’s more to life than what we see with our eyes.

Perhaps you’ve seen people wearing those T-shirts that say

“The one who dies with the most toys wins!”

That’s a lie! That’s true vanity and as we heard today, “This is a great misfortune.”

to think that the guy with the most motorcycles or most houses or most money wins

when in reality it’s the guy who inherits the Kingdom of Heaven who wins!

You see, we only fool ourselves when we believe that our material possessions ...

will bring us lasting happiness.  As important as some material things are,

 they must be seen in their proper perspective.

All of them are passing away!   We take none of them with us when we die.

All of our stuff, that means so much to us, will one day be given away, maybe even to people we don’t even know! So the question has to be, “Why am I investing so much time and energy in these things that I can see, when I won’t get to keep them.”

Yet, the world keeps telling us that “more is better!”

Implying that the more we have, the better off we’ll be, the happier we will be.

How important are things?

Well, I remember what one man said when he was diagnosed with cancer. He said, “All of a sudden, 97% of the things that used to matter … didn’t matter any more!”

That kind of wisdom typically comes to us over time ... as we get older.

And it often moves us to share that wisdom with others … especially the young.

That’s what that Kodak Vice-President, did years ago to a room full of young sales reps. He let us know that the happiness we seek is not to be found in things

 or in some box on an Organizational Chart.

So we need to avoid being greedy of material things and

“see beyond” this world of ours and recognize that material possessions

are limited in their ability to satisfy us now and will one day pass away.

There’s a saying that goes, The wise man lets go of what he can never keep ...

to hold onto what he can never lose!

We can never keep material possessions …

but if we hold onto God, we’ll have the happiness we seek ... for all eternity!

Let’s not be fooled.

Our purpose and our destiny are for something much greater than

acquiring the material things we see.

Our purpose is to know and love God ... so we can be with Him forever.

So, Be wise!

Build up your treasures in that direction and you’ll enjoy Eternal Happiness!