Carlos Orozco | Homily | 18 th Week | Sunday | 08/04/2019

I really like the ending of the movie . I’ll paint it for you: Dawson, Rose Dawson slowly approaches the back of the stern of the research boat floating in the middle of the north Atlantic, hands carefully guarding that treasure she securely holds close to her heart. The night is calm, the sky is painted in millions of shining stars like salt crystals you can smell in the breeze, a breeze strong enough to encourage the waves to sing, gentle enough to play with her whitened brittle hair. Upon approaching the safety bars, she reaches out with her right hand now clothed with age as she pulls herself up to stand on the bottom first bar, just high enough to look down into the darkened sea below.

She looks down, slowly allowing her left hand to leave the safety of her body and slowly uncurls her fingers, revealing a beautiful neckless with a heart- shaped blue diamond. The heart of the ocean, they called it. Memories of her youth compete with her aged face as she smiles, remembering the time she was gifted this highly priced treasure now turned priceless with memories.

Most of us have things we closely cherish; either because of their monetary value like that sports car bought during the midlife crisis, and or because of their emotional value. For me it would be a wooden model of the first plane built by the Right Brothers that my father and I made for my 5 th grade project. Items like these become treasures, we keep and guard them, yet today we are cautioned to be weary of our attitude towards what we own, a warning that comes from the wisdom of God through the old and new testament.

It begins with a request by one individual: “Jesus, tell my brother to share his inheritance with me!” Jesus immediately responds to the whole crowd: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” He then offers a parable of a person who ends up storing more than what they need. This response along with the parable Jesus offers seems very self-explanatory, but if we have come to learn anything about Jesus is that pg. 1

Carlos Orozco | Homily | 18 th Week | Sunday | 08/04/2019 what he says does is anything but simple common sense, it is filled with deep insights into the human condition. Thinking otherwise would make us fools!

First, we have to ask an important question: what is the motivation behind the things we do? This man in the parable wants to store food, lots of it… and at first it seems like he is being responsible: why would you not want more space to store the harvest! After all, we do have to save for a rainy day, don’t we? That doesn’t seem greedy to me… Yet, God calls him a fool!

This is because food is perishable! So, storing large quantities for himself, especially at that time where food easily spoiled, was futile! Most would have gone to waste. The fact that the man did not consider this, which he would have known, tells us he was not motivated by responsibility, rather, his motivation was the quantity of things themselves, greed, and there lies his foolishness. Life is futile, useless, pointless, if its focused on expending all your energy collecting things that at the end you won’t even enjoy. The man will have the same end as his precious harvest: wasted away, spoiled.

Second, realizing the motivation behind what we do: what is at the core? In the parable we realized the motivation of the man was greed, but greed is only the tip of the iceberg, underneath is a huge piece of ice that can sink our big, beautiful indestructible titanic of life. At the heart of greed, what is underneath, is anxiety, and this is what Jesus wants to uncover.

It is safe to say many people are anxious about the future. One of the biggest sources of anxiety for most people is money and resources; to be financially secured and making sure they are set for the future, and people in Jesus’s days were no exception, hence why this individual wanted his share of the inheritance, and why Jesus focuses on financial anxiety in this parable.

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Carlos Orozco | Homily | 18 th Week | Sunday | 08/04/2019

He had a mixed audience; some were wealthy, whose anxiety came in safeguarding their hard-earned wealth; and some were poor, their anxiety came from trying to make it day by day, the equivalent of those of us living paycheck to paycheck today. Jesus is speaking to both equally.

Anxiety, regardless of our situation, has the potential to rob us, to deprive us, to blind us to what really matter, to what is really of value. If you have experienced anxiety you will know how miserable life becomes. Every day that bar of success seems to be held higher and higher, and with it rises our anxiety as we are left struggling to reach it!

When people experience anxiety for the future, it can become greed disguised as preparedness as it was for the man in the parable. The danger here is that over time, our happiness becomes dependent on what we have… stuff becomes life! But because these things do not satisfy our deepest longing then we are always left searching for more, seeking more… and slowly, along with what surrounds us, we waste away…

Or anxiety can manifest itself as deep anguish and constant worry for those who must wake up every day and figure out just how they will put food on the table that day. Any doctors in the house can attest to how stress negatively effects the entire human person, it makes us sick in many and all levels, and slowly, along with what worries us, we waste away…

This in no way minimizes the real-life struggle, times can be tough, but it is more tough to risk losing meaning in life because of it, and falling into what Wisdom literature calls vanity of vanities.

Vanity means “breath of vapor,” meaning a lack substance, it is where we get the idea of meaninglessness. This is what God wants to guard us from, because as soon as we fall into vanity we fall into meaninglessness, the risk of thinking that pg. 3

Carlos Orozco | Homily | 18 th Week | Sunday | 08/04/2019 life is empty when in reality we have so much more than what the world could ever offer, a real life of abundance.

Where do we find such life? “Jesus came that you might have life, and have it in abundance.” (John 10:10). A life of purpose, meaning and abundance can only be found in Christ. You see Jesus challenges us to approach life differently, to see life differently. This is where we draw our hope even when we struggle with financial difficulties, with greed and anxiety for the future. At the end, “My body and mind may waste away, but God remains the foundation of my life and my inheritance forever!” Psalm 73, another ancient beautiful source of wisdom for us. To not let these beautiful pieces of wisdom from the heart of God penetrate our being would be foolish.

Final point: “you fool” is not meant as an insult, it is meant to draw our attention to the true meaningful treasure that God has for us. “You fool,” really says “if you only knew…” well, dear Christians… we know…

The invitation this evening is to seek Christ as our treasure, as our inheritance. When we do, whenever difficulties come, they won’t cast us into vanity, into meaninglessness, because “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13… another beautiful piece of wisdom for us to hold.

This bring us back to Titanic which serves as our own parable for today’s readings: The Kingdom of God is like a woman, Rose Dawson, who stands over the deck of the research boat that evening, holding in her hand the “heart of the ocean,” that beautiful neckless of great worth. It had been 84 years since receiving it aboard the ship, and she now stood there, where it began, as she neared the end of her life. Looking at the neckless she gently squeezes it for the last time, and then “bloop…” let’s go. The neckless falls from her hand into the darkened sea, as it

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Carlos Orozco | Homily | 18 th Week | Sunday | 08/04/2019 slowly disappears from sight going back to where it belonged. The audience is left in anxiety… you fool! That was a priceless piece of jewelry! Soon after she is in bed after having just passed away, a serene peaceful look as she is surrounded by photos of priceless moments with family and friends throughout her life. In none of the photos does the heart of the ocean appear, it was no match against a life lived with meaning.

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