This morning, I came across the below waiting for me in my email. As I read through it, I began to think about, the communion a ‘oneness’ with each other and God. More precisely the ‘oneness’ of our family. What divisions have I created between myself and each of you? How have I reenforced divisions that may have existed between others? What actions have I taken to repair those relationships and to foster ‘oneness’.
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 12:13-21 we are given The Parable of the Rich Fool:
13 One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” 14But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?” 15And he said to them, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; 17and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” “Rich toward God.” “Communion is a ‘oneness’ with each other and God.”
I look at these two lines and believe they say the same thing. The richness, the ‘oneness’ spoken of is that of trust, of surrender, of common sense, of respect, and of love. It is the voice of humility.
The goals and values of the oneness of life, being rich toward God, are just plain different from the goals and values we’ve been taught by the world around us. Winning, owning, having, consuming, and controlling are not the high posts which lead us to the right relationships in life. Humility, in other words, is the basis for right relationships, the relationships of Communion with each other and God.
God is present to us in the ordinary things of life. That’s why it takes humility to find Him. We must look at and listen to each other with the eyes and heart of Humility. If there is one thing that needs to be rediscovered, if I have rejected anything that I need to reclaim in order to be rich toward God, to gain oneness with each other, to heal the divides that I have caused, it would be humility.