…From the Pastor’s Desk
Where There’s a Will…
I was going through a bunch of files on my computer and came across a copy of my will from 1998. Like many, I was reticent to open it and read it. Some people even think that preparing a will , will, somehow hasten their own death. For the record, it does not.
The making of a will is one of the important acts of adulthood. We can be rather reluctant to sit down and make our will. To do so is to acknowledge in a very concrete way that we are mortal, that one day we will leave our possessions to others. The author of the book of Qoheleth saw this as part of the meaninglessness of life – “a person who has labored… must leave what is his own to someone who has not toiled for it at all’. Yet, there can be great meaning in the act of leaving what is our own to those who have not labored for it.
In making our will, we are deciding how our earthly possessions at the time of death will be divided and distributed. The decisions we make in regard to our will speak volumes about who and what we really value in life. We leave our possessions to the people and the causes that are most significant for us. Our will is a statement of our loves and passions, our values and interests.
When a will is not made or when it is unclear, trouble very often ensues, as family members attempt to interpret what the deceased person really intended. Non-family members can easily get drawn into the family quarrel. In the Gospel reading today, someone tries to draw Jesus into a family dispute about inheritance. Jesus seizes on this man’s request to warn against the dangers of greed.
Parents instinctively tell their children not to be greedy. However, greed is more an adult issue than a childhood one. In the gospels, children are always portrayed in a positive way. Jesus holds up children as models of how to receive the kingdom of God. He tells his own disciples, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it”. Jesus suggests that children very often have the open hands and the open hearts that are needed to receive God’s presence and to respond to God’s call.
The antithesis of greed is generosity. The antithesis of the man in today’s parable is the poor widow who placed everything she had into the temple treasury, “all she had to live on”. We can all think of generous people like her, those who give generously of themselves to others, whether it is of their time, their energy, their resources, their possessions. We know that we have been enriched by such people. Those who are rich in the sight of God truly enrich the lives of others. We pray that when the Lord calls us to himself at the end of our lives, we too will have become rich in the sight of God.
So, speaking of wills. Let us always seek God’s Will first!
Fr. Ron Serban
