What is this life if full of care?

August 3, 2025

It doesn’t often happen, but all three readings today seem to connect to a common theme. The first reading talks about the vanity of human life because all that one had ‘gained’ through life was not going to remain with us forever, and would be handed over to one who did not toil for it.  In the Gospel reading Jesus shares the parable of the man who was very happy with his life because he had gained so much wealth, but is really quite a fool for he was soon to die and all this wealth would mean nothing to him.  And in the second reading, Paul tells the Colossians that they must give up all their earthly desires and live a new kind of life.

The insight from all these three readings is a common one we find across religions, namely   that the goals we normally seek - wealth and material goods, success and fame, a higher status, and even the love of others, - are not really what we should strive for if we want to lead a meaningful and even truly serene life. In Hinduism this is explained through the concept of maya which characterises all these goals as illusory in nature and a distraction on our road to this truly worthwhile goal. In all the major Semitic religions too -  Judaism, Christianity and Islam - the idea of the happiness of the soul as distinct from the body seems to depend on the former’s ability to separate itself from the demands of the latter,  and search for eternal realities. Today, there is an unwillingness to make clear distinctions between the ‘soul’ and the ‘body’, for the simple reason that for all of our lives we experience everything through our bodies. Yet, we also experience that there is some ‘self’ or individuality in us that seems to continue to persist unbroken as it were, beyond all the changes that take place in our bodies, and for some, a self that exists even after the death of the body.

But then if for this inner soul/atma/self, the worldly goals which satisfy us in so many ways are an illusion or not worth seeking, then what should we do with our time on this earth? What exactly should we seek?

And the answer to this question in most religions is astonishingly the same - seek to nurture your atma, or soul, or essential self.  And nurturing our inner self  is nothing else than helping ourselves to grow in such a manner that we become one with the ultimate, with the entire universe where [as the second reading today tells us]  “there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all!”  So Christ, the anointed one is not only in all, but is all. Hinduism expresses something similar in its catchphrase, Tat Tvam Asi which means, That (which you worship) you yourself are, namely, if you overcome maya, you will realise that you are essentially one with all of the universe, with ultimate reality. Developing this relationship of oneness with the Universe takes time, patience, self reflection and love. It is like a relationship with a person. As the relationship becomes deeper and deeper, one gradually gets so attuned to the moods, thoughts, likes and dislikes of the person, that in a very real sense one ‘knows’ the person so deeply, that one intuitively knows how the other feels, what the other wants, what the other fears and so on.  At this point it is as if one shares a soul with the other. And then it doesn’t matter whether that person has more material possessions than oneself, whether s/he is more famous, or more successful or whatever.  One doesn’t need to prove anything to this person and one really doesn’t want anything from this person. One is not even possessive or jealous of that person, but one just basks in the serenity of that relationship.  Now imagine that kind of a relationship with all of creation. That is becoming one with God.  Or to use Christian terminology, that is what it is to love God. We are told that Francis of Assisi achieved such a oneness with all of creation such that he could ‘talk’ with animals and nature, calling them brother and sister as he does in his famous Canticle of the Creatures.  But this is actually an experience of many mystics in all religions.

Such a transformed  ‘inner self’ would learn how to  enjoy material goods without being enmeshed in them, experience emotions without being ruled by them, enjoy relationships without being possessive of them. And the insight from almost all religions is that such a mature “I” would truly be happier than an “I’ which seeks anything else.  And so St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits asks an ambitious young Francis Xavier studying at the University of Paris: ‘What does it benefit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul' (Mark 8: 36).  This became a pivotal question and experience in Francis’ life, and changed him forever.  I have often felt that at some point in our lives, many of us, perhaps all of us,  have asked this question  of ourselves, but then the struggles to make a living, or the desire to succeed, force us to push it aside and then, once we are enmeshed in these, we stop asking ourselves this question.

How then do we move towards this transforming experience?  As I said, each religion may offer its own path to help us reach this inner happiness which  comes with this ultimate identification with the entire universe, with ultimate reality. Yoga, ascetic practices, mediation, and many other paths are offered in different religions.  In Christianity, Jesus was clear that pilgrimaging to this oneness with the eternal was not to be understood as something that demanded a cutting-off from this world, as perhaps is suggested in many kinds of spiritualities.  Rather, he taught that the best way to achieve this oneness with God was through love of neighbour that is clearly quite this-worldly.  But perhaps even that is too general a guideline in our complicated world today.  And so, for me at least, another of Francis of Assisi’s prayer teaches me how Francis achieved this oneness with Brother Sun, Sister Moon, brother and sister animals, and all of human life.  And what he taught [through what has come to be known as the Peace Prayer] is that we must become an instrument of peace, so that where there is hatred, we have to learn to sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.  For it is in giving of ourselves that we will receive and in dying to our outer selves that we are born to a self that is in union with the eternal. 

And when we read his prayer, we will all find we could have done more in our  own lives - and if so, well then, in the time left to us, let us do more.

First Reading: Ecclesiastes 1: 2; 2: 21-23

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.  What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun?  For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

Second Reading: Colossians 3: 1-5, 9-11

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient.  These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth.  Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices  and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.  In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all!

Gospel: Luke 12: 13-21

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”  But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”  And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”  Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly.  And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’  Then 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.  And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’  But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”