Through the centuries modernity has shaped the world and everything.  Science and technology have become very powerful and even influential especially in today’s modern world.  The better way of life seems to be associated with earthly treasures that money, possessions, or status can make.  Continuous economic growth seems to be the main goal of most of us today as we come to grips with the growth ethic of the business world.
 
While it is true that we all invest our time and energy to earn a living, to plan as best as we can for our families and even for our community, there are certain things in life that can only be seen with our hearts, i.e., our treasures in heaven.  These things are reflected in our happiness and satisfaction and even in our great sense of deeper meaning.
 
I watched a movie on TV entitled ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley.’[1] It’s a 1999 American film starred by Matt Damon, Jude Law, Philip Seymour Hoffman, etc. and the setting was mainly in Italy with landmarks in the cities of Rome and Venice.  Tom Ripley is a young man struggling to make ends meet in 1950s New York City.  One night, while working at a party as a piano entertainer, he is approached by wealthy businessman Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn), who believes he’s a graduate of Princeton University and a friend of his son Dickie (Jude Law) since he’s wearing a Princeton jacket which he borrowed from someone.  He is asked to travel to Italy and convince his son to return to the States to help run the family business.  He agrees, notwithstanding that he never went to Princeton and has never met his son Dickie.
 
The story revolves around deception, murder, and ambition to acquire material things such as money, prestige, status, and possession.  One incident that happens while Ripley and Dickie hire a small boat and travel together for a short holiday to Sanremo, Dickie tells Ripley that he has grown tired of his company; his dependence on him.  As a result, a violent fight follows in which Ripley kills Dickie.  Ripley tries his best to conceal his crime by sinking the boat with Dickie’s body still on board.
 
In the wake of a tragic death that was followed by another scenario by killing Dickie’s friends – Freddie and Smith-Kingsley, there’s one statement that Ripley says in his conversation with one of Dickie’s friends: “It’s better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.”  I picked up bits of the language, i.e., the language of lie and deception, the make-believe revelation and the power of material quest deep within.  But in that context his guilt always haunts him.  He is never at peace nor relaxed in many ways.
 
I am saying this because at times our craving for material wealth, recognition and power goes beyond proportion.  Greed and selfish concerns continue to triumph in us.  They keep us bound to this world and we cannot let things go because we are so attached to them.  We have to keep in mind that wealth cannot pay if we have to go in this world.  All of us are going to die and John the Baptist’s words challenge us “prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”  Let us focus on what is essential in the eyes of God; to be simple and engaged with our striving to be Christ-like to others.

Fr. Angelo Plodari, C.S.