St Patrick's Co-Cathedral, Billings MT: 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The first reading from the beginning of the book of Ecclesiastes: Vanity of Vanities, . . . Vanity of Vanities, All things are Vanity. I wonder what the psychiatric diagnosis would have been had the writer consulted a physician for what ailed him.

Then the Gospel from Luke 12, the parable of the foolish rich man who wondered what to do with his riches, with Jesus saying that we should not be worried about building new barns to hold all our stuff in this world as it is with another world that we should be concerned. The homilist, Father Grosch at St Patrick's Co-Cathedral in Billings MT, reminds us that St Basil the Great reminded his listeners that the extra coat in their closets really belonged to him who was naked.

This is part of the argument that our friends on the Left, you might call them the left-over Socialists, beat us silly when they covetously look at our bank accounts and say Ah Hah, that money belongs to him who has less than you and we will take it from you and give it to him, less, of course, the handling fee that we call government.

Showing their chutzpah, they use this argument even if they are not particularly religious, in fact, now that I think about it, the ones who use it the most are often atheists or close to it. But surely to covetously and forcibly take from one person and give it to another of your favorite charities cannot be virtuous for either the one that it is taken from or the one who takes and then gives some of it to others.

I think the 2nd reading from St Paul  to the Colossians had something to say on this matter also, and not surprisingly, the general prayers and intercession mentioned something about the government making sure that the resources we all possess in common are distributed or maybe it was allocated fairly. Wow, that is a lot of stuff to think about. No wonder Father Grosch started his homily by saying that if we weren't uncomfortable after the readings we probably were not paying attention.