Sunday, August 3, 2025
The 2025 National Football League (NFL) preseason has officially begun, sparking the usual aspirations for a championship among players, coaches, team personnel, and their fans. Yet, for fourteen players, their season is already over due to severe injuries sustained before they even played a single preseason or regular season game. Unfortunately, this isn’t an anomaly; it’s a common occurrence before the start of each NFL season. In the NFL, as in life, even the best plans can quickly and unexpectedly unravel.
The Sacred Scriptures for this Sunday call us to a deep examination of our hearts, our priorities, and where we truly find security and lasting joy. They challenge us to look beyond the fleeting allure of even our best-laid plans and earthly possessions, and instead, focus on the eternal realities of God’s Kingdom. “Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth (Hebrew word meaning “preacher” or “teacher”), vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!” — Ecclesiastes 1:2. A stark and memorable declaration at the opening of the Book in our First Reading. Solomon, the author, laments the pain and exasperation of human effort. This passage is not a call to idleness or apathy, but a profound reflection on the transient nature of worldly achievements and possessions. Solomon, who experienced immense luxury and glory, concluded that he found no true enjoyment in his wealth and power as King. Then in today’s Psalm, we read a prayer of Moses: “You turn humanity back into dust, … A thousand years in your eyes are merely a day gone by.” – Psalm 90:3-4. Moses emphasizes the brevity of human life and God’s eternal nature. In today’s Second Reading, St. Paul offers a powerful remedy to the vanity described in Ecclesiastes: “If then 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.” — Colossians 3:1-2. He reminds us that, as Christians, our lives are transformed through a new spiritual birth. The old self, enslaved by sin, dies, and a new self, alive in Christ, emerges. Finally, the Gospel Reading presents a vivid parable of the rich fool that ties these themes together. The man’s land produced abundantly, and he decided to replace his barns with larger ones, planning that his goods, stored up for years to come, would allow him to “rest, eat, drink, be merry!” — Luke 12:19. But God said to him, “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” — Luke 12:20.
Today’s Readings present a powerful indictment of materialism and a profound lesson on the true meaning and purpose of our lives. At a mass during the 2012-2013 Annus Fidei, Year of Faith, Pope Francis said, “Whenever material things, money, worldliness, become the center of our lives, they take hold of us, they possess us; we lose our very identity as human beings.” — Pope Francis, Sep. 29, 2013. The world constantly floods us with temptations of acquisition and consumption. Today’s readings invite us to examine our hearts and call us to a counter-cultural way of living. Where do we place our trust? What do we truly value?
Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord.