Father Koch: A life absent faith is indeed vanity
August 1, 2025 at 10:30 a.m.
Gospel reflection for August 3, 2025, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
At present some 900 billionaires control about 3 trillion dollars in the US economy. We are at a time when the disparity between the rich and the poor seems to many to be excessive. Although we live in a very wealthy country, and the poor here have more access to resources than the poor in most of the world, something just feels off about the wealth gap in our country.
Throughout history, especially in more recent centuries, it is the vast difference between the rich and the poor that has been the cause of revolutions within countries. The apocryphal remark attributed to Marie Antoinette at the outset of the French Revolution -- “let them eat cake” -- is a telling example of the insensitivity of the rich towards the plight of the poor.
Jesus lived at a time when while there were no billionaires, there was a significant difference in the availability of resources for the wealthy as opposed to the general masses of people. For people who lived on the edge of survival, life was a continual struggle.
Greed is, of course, not a product of modernity, but rather from the sinfulness that grips each one of us. We see it in toddlers who refuse to share a toy with another; and we see it even among the poorest people. We seem to be programmed to want, to grab, and to possess.
Greed is not merely about money and objects. We also exercise greed when we become possessive within our relationships, controlling our jobs, and as we squander shared resources.
Jesus was confronted by a family that was fighting over their father’s estate. This scene and the subsequent parable told by Jesus could just as easily have happened today anywhere in the world.
The ancient text we hear in the First Reading from Ecclesiastes reflects on the vanity of life showing a deep longing for meaning amid the struggles of life. Each one of us comes to reflect at some point on who we are and what is the meaning of life, not in a universal way, but specifically one’s own life.
In the face of the void and the darkness that many experience in life, the desire to fill or to negate that darkness becomes an overarching theme, and for some, a compulsion. That void becomes an endless hunger, and we try many things to overcome its burn within us. This leads us to gathering -- even to the extent of hoarding -- many different things. This is not then just about money and possessions. The trap that leads many to addiction begins in this void. Others use various forms of pleasure and entertainment to answer the question. While some of our distractions are destructive, many of them are indeed pleasurable and offer us some good, but when they become an end in themselves, and the only drive that keeps us from despair, we have fallen into the trap of thinking that it is life’s purpose that we are accomplishing.
As we lose our spiritual self and seek fulfillment only in the world itself, we become entitled, greedy, and self-serving. Our capacity to love others wanes, our ability to enter authentically into the suffering and needs of others is lost.
The man in the parable thought solely of himself and cared little for the world in which he lived. It was his time, or so he thought.
Who and what we have and are is not ours, it is a loan to us from the Father who asks us to return it to him on his time, and not ours.
As we go through our daily lives and consider what we have amassed, and where our passions lie, our only truest answer is that it is in and through Jesus Christ and our relationship with him and his church that provides us with the balance and perspective of meaning for our lives.
Instead of worrying about what we want, what we think we deserve, or what will be the next adventure to satisfy us, we are challenged instead to go deeper into our relationship with Christ, and to place our efforts to the service of others.
On its own, life is vanity -- a life lived with faith in the promise of God -- leads to the fullness of everlasting life.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.
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Gospel reflection for August 3, 2025, 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
At present some 900 billionaires control about 3 trillion dollars in the US economy. We are at a time when the disparity between the rich and the poor seems to many to be excessive. Although we live in a very wealthy country, and the poor here have more access to resources than the poor in most of the world, something just feels off about the wealth gap in our country.
Throughout history, especially in more recent centuries, it is the vast difference between the rich and the poor that has been the cause of revolutions within countries. The apocryphal remark attributed to Marie Antoinette at the outset of the French Revolution -- “let them eat cake” -- is a telling example of the insensitivity of the rich towards the plight of the poor.
Jesus lived at a time when while there were no billionaires, there was a significant difference in the availability of resources for the wealthy as opposed to the general masses of people. For people who lived on the edge of survival, life was a continual struggle.
Greed is, of course, not a product of modernity, but rather from the sinfulness that grips each one of us. We see it in toddlers who refuse to share a toy with another; and we see it even among the poorest people. We seem to be programmed to want, to grab, and to possess.
Greed is not merely about money and objects. We also exercise greed when we become possessive within our relationships, controlling our jobs, and as we squander shared resources.
Jesus was confronted by a family that was fighting over their father’s estate. This scene and the subsequent parable told by Jesus could just as easily have happened today anywhere in the world.
The ancient text we hear in the First Reading from Ecclesiastes reflects on the vanity of life showing a deep longing for meaning amid the struggles of life. Each one of us comes to reflect at some point on who we are and what is the meaning of life, not in a universal way, but specifically one’s own life.
In the face of the void and the darkness that many experience in life, the desire to fill or to negate that darkness becomes an overarching theme, and for some, a compulsion. That void becomes an endless hunger, and we try many things to overcome its burn within us. This leads us to gathering -- even to the extent of hoarding -- many different things. This is not then just about money and possessions. The trap that leads many to addiction begins in this void. Others use various forms of pleasure and entertainment to answer the question. While some of our distractions are destructive, many of them are indeed pleasurable and offer us some good, but when they become an end in themselves, and the only drive that keeps us from despair, we have fallen into the trap of thinking that it is life’s purpose that we are accomplishing.
As we lose our spiritual self and seek fulfillment only in the world itself, we become entitled, greedy, and self-serving. Our capacity to love others wanes, our ability to enter authentically into the suffering and needs of others is lost.
The man in the parable thought solely of himself and cared little for the world in which he lived. It was his time, or so he thought.
Who and what we have and are is not ours, it is a loan to us from the Father who asks us to return it to him on his time, and not ours.
As we go through our daily lives and consider what we have amassed, and where our passions lie, our only truest answer is that it is in and through Jesus Christ and our relationship with him and his church that provides us with the balance and perspective of meaning for our lives.
Instead of worrying about what we want, what we think we deserve, or what will be the next adventure to satisfy us, we are challenged instead to go deeper into our relationship with Christ, and to place our efforts to the service of others.
On its own, life is vanity -- a life lived with faith in the promise of God -- leads to the fullness of everlasting life.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.