Fr Prodencio reads from the Gospel of Luke (12: 13-21) in which Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool, saying, ‘watch and be on your guard against greed of any kind, for a person’s life is not made secure by what they own’.

Fr Prodencio says our desire to surround ourselves with material security is as natural as our desire for food and drink because it has something to do with our survival.

With the cost of living all the way to the roof at the moment, with all the bills that we cannot avoid, it is but natural for us to be inclined to store material needs for our security. Usually, our dilemma comes when we face the moral question of our attitude toward material wealth.

With the way Christian morality had been on passed over the years, our usual dilemma is to confuse our attitude towards our possessions to those of our possessions themselves. Instead of looking at our attitude as the basis of moral judgement, we sometimes blame our possessions as the evil and obstacles for us to the kingdom of God. In our tendency to avoid copping the blame, we fail to realize the potentialities of our possessions to be an aid or means to experiencing the kingdom of God.

Fr Prodencio invites to take a moment to reflect on our attitude towards our material possessions – Jesus said, “…Man’s life is not made secure by what he owns…” – and suggests, it is what we do with what we own that makes us secure.