A lot is written and talked about the differences between the generations. And there are differences between Boomers, Gen Xers, Gen Ys and the up-and-coming Gen Zs. But across generations, from the third century BC until now, we find that humanity shares a lot in common. In this episode of By Your Life, I talk about how people have a never-ending and unsatisfying quest for stuff…and what to do about it.

Mass Readings Audio
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/2019/19_08_04.mp3

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 4, 2019

Welcome to the seventy-first episode of By Your Life. I’m Lisa Huetteman and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life. If you haven’t already, please sign up for notifications on your favorite podcast app or on the right side of this page so I can let you know when each new episode is posted. If you know of someone who can benefit from By Your Life, I’d appreciate it if you’d forward to a family member, co-worker or a friend.

My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular, business world. It’s my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.

In this edition, we’ll reflect on the readings for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. You’ve probably heard the saying, “He who dies with the most toys wins!” This is a quote that has been attributed to the flamboyant billionaire publisher Malcolm Forbes. It sounds like a facetious, 20th-century version of the wisdom from Sunday’s first reading. “Vanity of vanities!  All things are vanity!” (Ec 1:2)

What is meant by “vanity of vanities?” In Merriam-Webster, you’ll find multiple meanings. We know the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes was not talking about a dressing table or a small case/handbag for toilet articles used by women. Neither was his meaning pride/conceit/self-importance. Rather, he was using a Hebrew superlative expressing the supreme degree of futility and emptiness. Our readings this week remind us about what is truly important and we need this reminder, because we expend an inordinate amount of time, energy, and anxiety, working to build “bigger barns” so that we can be happy.

I admit it, I’m a collector of things. I collect nativity sets from countries I’ve visited around the world. I collect Santas and Christmas ornaments too. I’ve got a collection of plates from Brazil, artwork from Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. It doesn’t stop there. If you look in my closet, you’ll think I’m Imelda Marcos Jr. based on my collection of shoes. When I used to travel for work, I’d always hide little Beanie Babies in the house for my kids to find while I was away, and I’d always bring home a stuffed something from the place I traveled to. We now have storage bins full of these little stuffed critters. What the heck are we going to do with all this stuff? I need bigger barns!

The truth be told, these days we don’t build bigger barns. Instead, we rent storage space to put all our stuff. It amazes me how these self-storage places are popping up everywhere. It has become a $38 Billion industry! Almost 1 out of every 10 households in the US spends an average of almost $90 per month to store their stuff. Sure, self-storage units are helpful when you need to temporarily house things in between moves or when you are renovating. But, my in-laws moved to Florida 3 years ago and they have stuff in storage that they haven’t needed, missed, or even looked at since. They aren’t the only ones.

We love our stuff. And we work very hard, sacrificing a great deal for our stuff. Not only for our stuff but to give stuff to our families. Then, when we’re gone, they, like the man in the Gospel, will fight each other so they can get their hands on our stuff. And all of this is vanity, says Qoheleth the wise author of the Book of Ecclesiastes. He wrote, “Here is one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and that one’s legacy must be left to another who has not toiled for it.” (Ec 2:21)

This issue of who gets the stuff is was also brought up in our Gospel reading this week. The man said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.” (Lk 12:13) This kind of quarrel is still happening today. We all probably know of family members who are not speaking to each other over who got someone else’s stuff.

But let’s take another look at what is happening in this Gospel reading. This person had the opportunity to take a personal request to Jesus and listen to what his #1 issue was. “I want my inheritance!” How often has our own prayer life been like this man’s? When we meet the Lord, one-to-one in prayer, is this what it sounds like? “Lord, please tell someone else to behave?” Or, do we ask God for the grace to heal the relationship with this family member, to forgive him, and to love him, regardless of what happens to the inheritance?

Jesus’ response to this man, and to all who were present, was much better than what he asked for. Although he probably didn’t appreciate it at the time, the advice was priceless. He said, “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” (Lk 12:15) This was truly a more valuable answer to his request than a share in his earthly inheritance. Guard against all greed. All greed! Because our life’s purpose and our happiness can never be satisfied by possessions.

My husband and I have gotten in the habit of watching Fixer + Upper on HGTV. The show presents wonderful transformations of houses, through demo, to design, and finally to decorating. These houses are lovely when Chip and Joanna are finished with them. One thing that strikes me each time they reveal the renovated house to the family and that is when they say, “Welcome home, guys!” As thrilled as these couples are at the transformation of their house, it is not the flooring, cabinetry, shiplap, and lighting fixtures that will make their house a home. It is the love among the family that lives there.

Earlier this week, the first reading at Mass was from the Book of Exodus chapter 40. The reading went into great detail about the construction of the Dwelling for Ark of the Covenant that Moses built “exactly as the Lord had commanded him.” (Ex 40:16) The details of the pedestals, boards, bars, columns and veils were described. But the pedestals, columns and veils were meaningless until “the glory of the Lord filled the Dwelling.” (Ex 40:34) Without the presence of the Lord, the Dwelling was just another tent. Without a loving family, a house is just another building.

And this is what we need to be reminded of. It’s not that there is anything wrong with the stuff. What is wrong is the priority we can place on it. What is wrong is when it becomes the be-all, end-all, of our lives. The stuff is always something fleeting, which like bubbles are fine things to enjoy but are temporary. Not only is the satisfaction they bring us in this world temporary, they are worthless in eternity.

I was listening to a story on the radio the other morning about veterans who served during decades of nuclear testing. Needless to say, they have suffered loss of health from the impact of radiation exposure in ways no one expected at the time. The story was about an effort to get these “atomic veterans” recognition for their sacrifice in the same way combat veterans receive honors for their service and sacrifice. They wanted a medal. I guess, for various reasons that I don’t know about nor do I wish to debate, the military decided to provide certificates of recognition instead of medals, and the veterans interviewed for the story felt that a certificate was not sufficient. My point is not to agree or disagree with the military’s decision, nor to argue for or against the veteran’s position. I bring this up as an example of how we seek “things” that really have no meaning in the scheme of eternity. Think about it, will God recognize the sacrifice of a person more if they were awarded a medal?

What difference is there between a piece of paper, a medal, a plaque or a gold trophy, if the honor and recognition behind the “thing” is the same? Don’t all these things collect dust in the same way? A piece of paper can be extraordinarily valuable when it is a hand-written letter of sincere gratitude from someone whose life you positively impacted. And a trophy, that is given to everyone just for showing up, isn’t treasured. In our hearts, we know the difference. We know that it is the meaning behind the “thing” that is cherished, and not the thing itself.

I worked for a Fortune 500 telecommunications company. When my 5, 10, and 15-year work anniversary came around, I got a catalog in the mail and I was able to pick out my service award. A few weeks later, some “thing” arrived in the mail. I liked the thing, whatever it was, because I picked it out, but it certainly did not leave me with a feeling of appreciation for my years of service to the company. Their entire service awards program was designed to be fair and efficient, but it lacked the one thing it was intended to do—show appreciation. It lacked meaning.

A lot is written and talked about the differences between the generations. And there are differences between Boomers, Gen Xers, Gen Ys and the up-and-coming Gen Zs. But when we look at the studies, what employees really want vs what managers think they want, it hasn’t changed in over 70 years. There was a survey conducted by Lawrence Lindahl in 1949, where employees were asked to force-rank a list of 10 things in order of importance to them, and separately, managers ranked the same list in the order they thought was most important to their employees. In 1949, employees said that full appreciation for work done was #1. That sounds an awful lot like what is claimed as most important to the Gen Ys these days. The interesting thing about Lindahl’s study is that managers thought that good wages was #1 on the employees’ list. Employees didn’t list wages until #5. Similarly, the #1 item for employees, full appreciation, was listed by managers as #8. No wonder companies keep giving stuff and the meaning behind the stuff is missing.

We all falsely assign great meaning to things, but a diamond will never be a girl’s best friend; a wedding ring is not a marriage; and a thing is not appreciation. Friendship, marriage, appreciation are important, the rest is just stuff.

Nevertheless, we keep clamoring for our stuff. “Tell the military to give me my share of honor.” “Tell my brother to give me my share of the inheritance.” “Tell my company to give me my share of the profits.” “Tell my government to give me my share of someone else’s wealth.” It goes on, and on, and on. And it does go on and on and on, because even if you do get that which you demand, you will never be satisfied. Honor and wealth can never satisfy and even what these atomic veterans gave, their health, is fleeting.

Neither the certificate nor the medal could change the amount of suffering nor could it adequately show appreciation to those veterans. But, in saying this, I really think that we view suffering all wrong. In the same way our culture overvalues wealth, it underappreciates the value of suffering. St. Pope John Paul II wrote in Evangelium Vitae (no. 67):

“Living to the Lord …means recognizing that suffering, while still an evil and a trial in itself, can always become a source of good. It becomes such if it is experienced for love and with love through sharing, by God’s gracious gift and one’s own personal and free choice, in the suffering of Christ Crucified. In this way, the person who lives his suffering in the Lord grows more fully conformed to him (cf. Phil 3:10; 1 Pet 2:21) and more closely associated with his redemptive work on behalf of the Church and humanity. This was the experience of Saint Paul, which every person who suffers is called to relive: ‘I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his Body, that is, the Church’ (Col 1:24).”

So those who are rich, may not be the winners and those who suffer, may not be the losers. It all depends on our focus—this life or the next; ourselves or others. St. Paul tells us in the second reading, “Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly.” (Col 3:5) Transform your prayers from asking for things for this world, to asking for grace to forgive, and suffer, and love. All else is vanity. So, let’s ask the Lord to help us to release our desire for earthly riches and to seek instead spiritual wealth.

May God “fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Ph 4:19) May you accept suffering and offer it with joy to be united with the Cross. And may God bless you abundantly with his grace this week, so that you recognize his blessings, in both good and suffering, and in all you do, glorify the Lord by your life.

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