What’s in your pocket?

Since I was a little boy, I learned from my Mama to carry a rosary and a handkerchief in my left pocket. From my Papa, I learned to carry a comb in my right pocket, and in my “bulsa-relo,” money that is sufficient, just enough for me to be able to make it back home.

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In today’s Gospel (Lk. 12: 13-21), Jesus tells us: “Take care to guard against all greed, though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” When we make money or possessions possess us, we may end up making them our gods, and forget God, the source of our life, all that we are, and all that we have.

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Up to now I still carry in my pocket a rosary, a handkerchief, a comb, and a little money, and these have helped me in my journey through life. Mama was right: The rosary reminds me to pray; the handkerchief reminds me to help other people who are sweating and crying. Papa, too, was right in telling me to carry a comb, to be clean and neat, and to carry a little money, not too much, so that I can make it back home to heaven.

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Money is not bad, but if it becomes our life passion, we may forget compassion. Money makes life easy, convenient, and comfortable, but it can also make us so busy, lazy, and detached from God Himself and from His people, especially the poor and the needy.

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The evil one knows how to use money and possessions to corrupt a person. How many people have given up the goodness in their hearts, and even their very souls, just to have more money and more possessions? Is it worth it all?

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I have seen the closest of friends, colleagues, and even families fall apart just because of money. They have even taken their battle to court, which could drag on for years. Worse, their fight continues to rage among the children, long after they are gone!

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Remember you are worth not for what you have. Remember, too, that money cannot buy everything. And remember, too, that when God raises your standard of living, you, too, must raise your standard of giving.

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Hats off to people who are rich, but are not filthy rich, not proudly rich, not selfishly rich, and not Godless-ly rich!

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I pray: that God bless and prosper the work of your hands, but, also, and more so, increase the love in your heart. May we not end up with hands full, but hearts empty.

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Come, Holy Spirit, teach us that true happiness is not in the hoarding, but in the sharing; not in the getting, but in the giving; not in grandstanding, but in self-deprecating.

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All of us will go sooner or later. When that time comes, may we have little or no regrets that we have loved too little, too late. May we not be burdened with unexplained wealth, unshared wealth in that final accounting before our Father in Heaven.

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Today is Fil-Mission Sunday. We rejoice that we have, as a Church, and as a nation, been generous to send Filipino priests and religious, and lay people who share our faith to the world. May we also be generous in supporting them with our prayers, encouragement, and financially as well, for their work and mission here and abroad.

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“I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36, 26).

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For all birthday celebrants out there, I pray: May you have more years, to serve; more blessings, to share; more mission to do, for the Lord, and for the Blessed Mother.

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A moment with the Lord:Lord, help us to use our money for our salvation, not for our condemnation. Amen.

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