Sunday, October 18, 2015

29th Week, Ordinary Time, Monday, 19-10-15

Romans 4:20-25 / Luke 12:13-21

When we see a person talking to himself, we would assume that he is not that mentally sound.

Because a mentally sound person would not want to be seen talking to himself in public. Because in public we would be more aware and cautious of our actions.

But in private and when we are alone and by ourselves, we may talk to ourselves now and then.

And the sentences that we compose in our minds can be quite logical, even though we are only addressing it to ourselves and not to a second party.

It does not mean that we are mentally unsound. It's just that it's a peculiar human behaviour, or maybe a peculiar habit.

In the gospel parable, this curious human behaviour is brought to light in the person of the rich man who had a good harvest from his land.

He thought to himself and he then entered into a monologue or a soliloquy. He was thinking and saying it all to himself, and it was a rather self-centered.

He asked himself about the question of storing his crops, he answered that question by deciding  to build bigger barns, and then he assured himself of his own security.

He may not be mentally unsound, but he was spiritually unsound. As in the gospel parable, God called that selfish rich man a fool.

We may have this on-and-off habit of talking to ourselves in private. Whether that kind of monologue or soliloque leads to any good is another question.

But the question is why are we not talking to God. When we talk to God more often than we talk to ourselves, we will become aware of His presence and we will become mentally as well as spiritually sound.