18th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C - 31/7/2016 - Gospel: Lk 12:13-21
Inheritance
Food and drink are essential for our physical body and for our mind. A human mind requires different kinds of food. It needs substance, not solid food, such as listening to music, reading novels and relaxation. Our mind is of this world and yet it desires to shuttle out further and further to explore the universe. As a window for the body the mind needs to know what is going on now and what will be happening in the future. It finds pleasure at the beauty of the natural world. It finds delight from the movements of the waves on beaches and enjoys sunrises and sunsets and the tars and moon. The mind gathers knowledge from nature to enrich personal relationships. We inherit this wisdom and knowledge from great minds. They handed them down to us through books and other means of communications.
A human mind would never stop struggling to find an acceptable answer for the question of where we came from and go to afterwards. It would never stop looking for an answer because by nature a mind desires to learn. Different generations give different views about our existence simply because the spiritual world is far more superior to the material world. The mind is of this world and yet it yearns to know about the spiritual world. Both worlds are vast and complex. The mind may be able to understand more and more but would never fully understand the spiritual world.
It seems the key issue is not about whether the universe has a Grand Master or not but it is more about the power of a mind. There are two schools of thoughts about the power of a human mind. The first one believes that a human mind is powerful and capable of everything while the second school believes that our human mind is limited and imperfect. Both schools of thoughts could find no proof of the Grand Master of the universe. No proof made one view to come to the conclusion that there is no intelligent design. The other view is not happy with the explanation 'things happen by chance'. No human mind is free from making mistakes. When it comes to the question of the Grand Master of the universe none of the schools would accept any compromise.
We inherit wisdom and knowledge from the former generations because it empowers us to learn more and advance in searching for the meaning of life. Inheritance includes general knowledge of the world and knowledge of faith. We Christians believe in God and embrace general knowledge of the world and wisdom of the Christian faith of our ancestors. People who deny the existence of God inherit only general knowledge of the world and filter out the knowledge of God. Having faith in Jesus gives us something we hope for and that is our everlasting inheritance given to us by the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. We give thanks to God for this heavenly free gift.
A human mind would never stop struggling to find an acceptable answer for the question of where we came from and go to afterwards. It would never stop looking for an answer because by nature a mind desires to learn. Different generations give different views about our existence simply because the spiritual world is far more superior to the material world. The mind is of this world and yet it yearns to know about the spiritual world. Both worlds are vast and complex. The mind may be able to understand more and more but would never fully understand the spiritual world.
It seems the key issue is not about whether the universe has a Grand Master or not but it is more about the power of a mind. There are two schools of thoughts about the power of a human mind. The first one believes that a human mind is powerful and capable of everything while the second school believes that our human mind is limited and imperfect. Both schools of thoughts could find no proof of the Grand Master of the universe. No proof made one view to come to the conclusion that there is no intelligent design. The other view is not happy with the explanation 'things happen by chance'. No human mind is free from making mistakes. When it comes to the question of the Grand Master of the universe none of the schools would accept any compromise.
We inherit wisdom and knowledge from the former generations because it empowers us to learn more and advance in searching for the meaning of life. Inheritance includes general knowledge of the world and knowledge of faith. We Christians believe in God and embrace general knowledge of the world and wisdom of the Christian faith of our ancestors. People who deny the existence of God inherit only general knowledge of the world and filter out the knowledge of God. Having faith in Jesus gives us something we hope for and that is our everlasting inheritance given to us by the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. We give thanks to God for this heavenly free gift.
Written by Fr Vũđình Tường
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia