Once I was invited to a group meeting with Pope Francis. Entering the room, I paused, eyeing the seats next to the Pope’s fancy chair. Someone saw my paralysis and invited me to sit in the seat farthest from what I wanted. Hiding my disappointment, I sat. We waited. To our surprise, an aid pointed out that those seats were still empty and invited me and another to have them. We calmly but gleefully strode across the room and sat. Pope Francis entered, and we enjoyed two hours of amazingly uplifting conversation.

I’ve been hiking Camelback Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona most of my life. It is a vigorous forty-five minutes to the top. Near the peak, the end suddenly appears much further away, and steeper. At that moment, a descending hiker often offers encouragement: “Keep going! The peak is right there. It’s not as far as it looks. You can do it!” It usually works. After another five minute push, you summit and enjoy a glorious panorama of the Sonoran Desert in the Valley of the Sun.

During my baseball career, my best coach often said, "You shouldn't be worried if I yell at you. Be worried if I don't. If I stop pushing you, it means I don't think you have any more potential." He demanded a lot, and I knew it meant he saw that I could be something special on the baseball field.

There was a young mother in my parish community who was depressed due to fnancial strain. She prayed for help. One morning before Mass, she placed on the counter a zip-lock bag flled with jewelry and old coins. Smiling, she explained she had been fxing an old cabinet and found the items hidden deep within the walls of her home. One particular coin could be worth as much as $900,000. The contents of the bag–previously unknown to them–were now their prized possession. Their plans changed that week. They had to learn how much it was worth.

Recent studies suggest that millennials will be the frst generation in America to be worse off than their parents in terms of financial earnings and job status. Many lament this. I propose that this week’s Gospel provides a hopeful way to see the trend as good news.

The Lord Jesus says, “Take care to guard against greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist in possessions” (Luke 12:15). Greed damages us with the deception that we are what we possess. But to Jesus, this is simply not true. What makes us happy is who we are, who we become.