NOT WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE

May 24, Monday

 

EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

 

         Ben Sirach states that all, even the just, are affected by sin and therefore he sounds a call for penance.

         The young man of the gospel is proud, perhaps a bit pharisaically, to have observed the commandments since his childhood. But Jesus asks more: for the kingdom of God one must be willing to follow Jesus absolutely and give up everything else for it. Jesus’ offer is too demanding for him to be accepted. The young man was not willing to pay the price. Are we always willing to pay it fully?

 

First Reading: Sirach 17:20-24

No one could make a turn without God’s knowing it; no one could hide from his surveillance. He installed a leader in every Gentile nation; he created a little bit of himself in the house of Israel. All the action on earth to him was like the noonday sun; he saw everything as though the sun never slept. The humans’ iniquities were plain as day; their sins couldn’t be stashed out of sight. He thought charitable giving was an especially good sign; generosity was especially pleasing to his eye.

After this life’s over, God will show up for the Final Inspection; then he’ll return all of us to the earth from which we came. To repeat offenders he’ll give reprieves; to those quaking in their boots he’ll give forgiveness. There will be plenty of awards for good behavior to go around.

Turn away from your sinful life; turn toward the Lord. Cut your sin production in half; pray before the Lord. Avert injustice; embrace justice.  If the Most High doesn’t like it, you don’t like it. God wrote the book on justice; read it.

Don’t give up as you wait in line for the final disposition and prayer. Can those in the grave praise the Most High? Which of the dead can pray better than the living, at least the ones who believe in God? Don’t wallow in the error of the ungodly.

Repent before death comes; after death, repentance is too late. Confess your sins while you’re living; confess while you still have your wits about you. Praise God, and you’ll glory in his commiseration. How massive is the mercy of God! How great is the compassion of the Lord!

Not everything can be done by mortals; the child of mortals isn’t immortal. What’s brighter than the sun? Yet even the sun has eclipses. What’s more wicked than what flesh and blood can cook up? There’s power in High Heaven; all the rest is earth and ash.

And that’s about as clear as it gets.

 

Gospel: Mark 10:17-27

To Enter God’s Kingdom

As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honour your father and mother.”

He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!”

Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”

The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.

Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who ‘have it all’ to enter God’s kingdom?” The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: “You can’t imagine how difficult. I’d say it’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for the rich to get into God’s kingdom.”

 That set the disciples back on their heels. “Then who has any chance at all?” they asked.

Jesus was blunt: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it.”

 

Prayer

God our Father,
your Son Jesus looks at us with love
and he asks us to follow him
generously and radically.
But you know how hard it is for us
not to be attached more
to things and people than to you.
Sustain us in our struggles
to be fully free for you and people,
for what is impossible for us
you can do in us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Attachment 

Today is the “World Day of Prayer for the Church in China.” Today the Catholic faithful in China, celebrate with particular devotion the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians and Patroness of China, venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai. We entrust to the guidance and protection of our Heavenly Mother the Pastors and faithful of the Catholic Church in China.

A man approaches Jesus. The Gospel says he “ran up and knelt before Jesus”. But this time, the request is not for a healing. He was looking for an answer: what must I do to inherit eternal life? Sometime, we are like this young man. All our spiritual exercises, prayers and works of charity are all done in an atmosphere of fear and doubt. If I do not make these prayers.. If I do not attend the liturgy… if I do not take up these acts of abstinence … I might fail to please God. We do a lot of pious religious activities, but would still feel a vacuum, not yet feel the love and peace with in.

This youngster in today’s gospel has an earnest desire to obtain eternal life. He also believes that it is something that we inherit. Inherit a wealth means, it is up to the father/ the owner of the property to decide whether to give it to his children or not. We cannot buy it for money, nor can it be taken by force. It has to come as a gift from the father to the children. Thus, the only way to inherit the father’s property is to please the father, to be in his good books. So this is the question of the young man. What shall I do to please God?

Jesus stares at him with affection and tells him “one thing is missing ”: Give away what you have to the poor. And then follow me! To Jesus, there is no half-hearted responses. Either you give him everything or give nothing! And this is a challenge. Had we accepted this challenge, there would have been no one in our communities who lacked anything.

If this happens in the Christian community, the absurdity that Paul says will occur: some go hungry and others get drunk (cf. 1 Cor 11, 20-22). Some have everything – beautiful car, luxurious house, money in banks, state-of-the-art technological devices … Jesus tells the rich man who kept the commandments since he was a child that he still “lacks one thing” to be his follower: stop owning and hoarding, and start sharing what he has with those in need.

Friends: don’t we live trapped in our selfishness? Jesus has already said: How difficult it will be for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!

 

Video available on Youtube: Attachment