But let me learn something from this loss. That possessions are meant to enhance life, not become the main focus of living. Help me remember that we come into the world with nothing and we leave with nothing. Don't let me put too much stock in mere possessions. All agree that we do need some possessions in this world, but the young man in today's Gospel was more concerned with getting possessions than he should have been.
Possessions have a way of gaining and keeping our attention.
When you discover that one of the main topics of your conversation is how much things cost, what you just bought, and what you are planning to buy, you have a very good clue that you are starting to center your life around possessions. In our first reading today from the Book of Wisdom the author compares having possessions to having wisdom. He says that having possessions is nothing but a little sand in the presence of wisdom, that possessions appear as a handful of clay compared to wisdom. The author of wisdom tells us that possessions without wisdom can blind us from seeing God. A person with wisdom, however, knows how to use the possessions in a way that draws that person closer to God.