Homily: August 3, 2025, Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Saints-Heaven )

 “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.”

What does it mean to ‘seek what is above’?

There’s no doubt that ‘what is above’ is ‘where Christ is seated at the right hand of God’. St. Paul was writing about heaven. In other words, Paul is asking us to think about heaven, about eternity, and to set our minds and hearts to reach it.

Let me ask you: When was the last time you thought seriously about heaven?

Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. From the catholic perspective, we might say that everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to be a saint. Both are ironic.

Without death, there can be no heaven. And only saints can enter heaven. Heaven is ‘saint-land’.

Now, let us consider the context of today’s second reading. St. Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians while he was imprisoned in Rome. At the very beginning of this letter, he said that he was in chains. He had no worldly security left, no freedom, no comfort, no rights. He knew his death could come any time. And yet, he wrote with hope, joy, and confidence in heaven.

That is amazing. If we were expecting torture and violence, and facing impending unnatural death, would we still be hopeful and joyful like St. Paul? Would we be thinking about heaven or worrying about what kind of death was ahead?

And that was what St. Paul was advocating, that no matter what happens in life, our daily concern should be focused on getting to heaven, our permanent forever home.

Only saints go to heaven. St. John Paul II once said: “Do not be afraid to be the saints of the new millennium! Lift up your eyes to heaven!”

So our daily focus should be on how to become saints, and how to avoid those which distract us from becoming saints.

In the first reading, from Ecclesiastes, Solomon, known as the wisest and richest man of his time declared: “Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! ...For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which he has labored under the sun?”

This tells us that nothing in this world leads to eternity, everything that we are anxious about, which we work hard to earn, will not add any real value to our life. So do not place our heart and hopes on the ambitions of earthly affairs, do not toil and work for worldly gains. These are distractions.

Let us look at the rich man in today’s Gospel parable more closely. He was already wealthy, and now he was blessed with another abundant harvest.

Wow! In life, many would consider this a great blessing. Aren’t we always wishing for more wealth, more possessions, more earnings? And what did he plan to do? Build a bigger barn to store his abundance, he plans for a comfortable luxurious life believing it to be the best way of living, the ideal lifestyle.

Do you also work and live for the same in your life?

But be warned how Jesus condemned this rich man’s mindset and most people’s life plans which aim to “store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”

This rich man may seem secure in this life, but he could be living with constant anxiety, always trying to protect and increase what he had, and not willing to let others have a share or benefit from what he thinks he owns.

This man’s foolishness was not the abundance. It was his greed. His heart was consumed by the possessions, his mind centered around ‘treasures’ for himself – his own comfort, pleasure and more wealth. He was ‘not rich in what matters to God’.

What truly matters to God?

St. Paul in today’s second reading clearly states: “Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry.”

Everything worldly is vanity, it does not last nor help us advance towards eternal life. What is worse is when we focus on getting more than we really need, it leads to poverty in our relationship with God, because we no longer have the capacity to do what is pleasing to God.

Unless we turn back to God, we may face eternal separation from Him after this life ends when all our worldly possessions cannot provide for us anymore.

What truly matters to God is the abundance of love and generosity, the giving of self for the good of others, the sharing of blessings with those who are not as blessed. It is constantly allowing God’s graces to work through us, so that God’s life may remain in us. It is using what we have on earth, no matter how little or much, to earn the treasures of heaven, which will be great.

So, let us work hard to gain entry to heaven, like the saints who were wise and gave up all earthly riches in exchange for eternal life with God. Let us always seek what is above. Let us set our hearts, and minds, and eyes on heaven. 

Amen.