Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

DESIRES

            One of the things that makes all of us living beings is our desires. The dead have no desire and that may have been the reason why Dante wrote: “abandon all hopes all those who enter here.” As good as desires are for all living organisms, a creature’s desires can be disastrous for another creature. For example, in the wild, the desire for a lion to feed its family can lead to a disastrous end of another helpless creature in the wild. And for us humans, some unchecked desires can be disastrous for the individual him- or herself or another person. We are therefore encouraged to desire things that are acceptable in the eyes of God; things good for us and good for our neighbour.

            Discernment is highly recommended so one can check his/her desires that they may not lead him/her away from God. As Christians, discernment will lead us to the conclusion that only God suffices and other things are just transitory. The wise author pens it down beautifully in today’s first reading: “Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and yet to another who has not labored over it, he must leave property. This also is vanity and a great misfortune. For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun? All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation; even at night his mind is not at rest. This also is vanity.”

            The wise teacher is right. No matter how successful we become in life, our lives may be deemed worthless in the end if Christ is not the alpha and omega of one’s life. The story that Jesus told the man who asked him to help him to get his share of his inheritance should be a food for thought for every Christian. No matter the extent of one’s riches, his/her wealth because worthless to him at death. A story is told of a rich man who on his death bed asked his wife to make sure he goes with his savings. When he died and was being laid in state, the deceased’s sister inquired from the wife if she respected the request of her brother and the wife responded: “check his pocket, I have signed him a cheque…he can cash it when he gets to where he is going.” Can one find a bank in hell or heaven? We need to check our earthly desires. No matter how good earthly inheritances are for our sustenance, we should not be too obsessed with them to the detriment of the salvation of our souls.

            St Paul in the second reading counsels us perfectly: “If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth…put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator…”

            I still remember my childhood and teenage years very well. People had strong desires for the ways of God and were always afraid to offend God by their unguided desires. Most village communities were very peaceful and crime free. I still remember stories of villages where people did not need locks for their doors when they were off to the farm or other businesses because they knew that nobody would enter their rooms. But today, people do not only lock their doors but secure them with iron guards. During those days boys and girls dressed decently but today’s youth have introduced different clothing fashions that have made their own lives unsafe from sexual predators. Our desire for unhealthy food and drinks have opened the doors for all kinds of diseases. In some parts of the world, people’s desire for quick wealth have opened wide the doors for occultic practices. We need to check our desires else man’s obsession for his desires will continue to make this world unsafe.

            Christ should take his rightful place in the minds and hearts of human beings. We should daily remind ourselves that no matter how much we accumulate and save, without Christ all those things will be vanity. The worth of a man’s life is not measured by what he owns but by the Christ in him. OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP PRAY FOR US.