Posted by The WORD in other words (2006) by Fr Glenn Paul Gomez SVD – Christ the King Seminary, Quezon City
Monday 34th Week in Ordinary Time
Let’s take a look at the life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
John D. Rockefeller, Sr. was strong and husky when small. Early on he was determined to earn money and drove himself to the limit. At age 33, he earned his first million dollars. At age 43, he controlled the biggest company in the world. At age 53, he was the richest man on earth and the world’s only billionaire.
Then he developed a sickness called “alopecia,” where the hair of his head dropped off, his eyelashes and eyebrows disappeared, and he was shrunken like a mummy. His weekly income was one million dollars, but he digested only milk and crackers.
He was so hated in Pennsylvania that he had to have bodyguards day and night. He could not sleep, stopped smiling long since, and enjoyed nothing in life. The doctors predicted he would not live over one year. The newspaper had gleefully written his obituary in advance just in case all of sudden…
Those sleepless nights set him thinking.
He realized with a new light that he “could not take one dime the next world.” Money was not everything. The next morning found him a new man. He began to help churches with his amassed wealth: the poor and needy were not overlooked. He established the Rockefeller Foundation whose funding of medical researches led to the discovery of penicillin and other wonder drugs.
John D. began to sleep well, eat and enjoy life. The doctors had predicted he would not live over 54. John D. Rockefeller, Sr. lived up to 98!
What do we do with our money? Jesus reminds us not to give out of surplus. Let the life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. be a constant reminder for all of us. He is right: we “could not take one dime the next world.”
Like the poor widow in the Gospel, let’s give our “two small coins,” our “whole livelihood.” Let’s give until it hurts.
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