Faster Horses, Younger Women, Older Whiskey, More Money

This lyric by Tom T. Hall (on You Tube) stands in contrast to the readings for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time. It is all to easy to act on the premise that "if a little is good, more is better." Yet this can lead to a lust for power that corrupts; a lust for fame that turns heads and causes entire universities to ignore pedophilia by an assistant coach; or the possession of beautiful and useful things turning into hoarding. The impulse for "more is better" is a manifestation of what Fr. Thomas Keating calls the  "false self." In the old days we called this impulse "attachments." Today the word is addiction. All of us are subject to this impulse. For some it is physically fatal. For all it is spiritually dangerous.

 We can all stand to be corrected by the scriptures for Sunday, August 5. In Exodus 16:2-15 the people despair that they will die of famine in the desert; the Lord gives them their daily bread. One day's supply of of bread was enough. In the John the people are told:

 "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."

In the second reading, Paul writes to the Ephesians that they need:

 "… to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds;"

 We can only ask God's help in removing that old self. If we do, we can be sure in the promise that we will achieve spiritual progress, if not perfection.