In our lives, whether in Florida or elsewhere, I feel like we have everything in the world—big houses, flat screens in every room for two people, multiple cars, money in the bank, etc. So why are so many with these “haves” so unhappy? Is it because the Chevy isn’t a BMW, or the 32″ screen isn’t a 65″, or bemoaning that grass is being cut by you because there’s no landscape outfit to do it, or because Top Flite’s are in the bag rather than Titleist’s? I know people who just want more, people not accepting the fact that “we do not store up treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal”. (Matthew 6:19). At the same time they’d be viewing Pamplona as nothing but a poverty stricken city.
So now I’ll ask, if there’s so much poverty and a lack of what the “have’s” possess, then why are our neighbors in Pamplona so happy? Girls and boys and women and men embrace great wealth that many of us would find difficult to understand. The valuable possessions are all bundled into their beliefs in Catholicism. Undying faith overrides anything possibly construed as negative. While I certainly couldn’t look into every phase of their lives, eyes and actions tell the main story–Jesus rules!
You might assume, therefore, that the theme of this message is to feel guilty over what we have. That’s not the point at all. It’s simply to remind us that worldly possessions, while nice to have, cannot come close to impacting lives the way Jesus can. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing”? (Matthew 6:25)
God bless the people of Pamplona, wealthy in so many ways.
St Dominic Peru Mission 