28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

From the Word of the Day

“He replied and said to him, ‘Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth’.  Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, ‘You are lacking in one thing.  Go, sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me’.  At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.”     

(Mark 10: 20-22)

How should we live this Word

 This is a special encounter that Jesus has with a man interested in receiving from the Lord a word that affirms his life.  Jesus reminds him that the best path for existence is the Law given by God to Moses and the man is reassured.  In fact, he says that he has always lived according to the Lord’s Commandments.  At this point, Jesus looks at him with love.

Thus, there is a movement of great pleasure in the Lord for this creature capable of simply giving God what is due to God.  And it is the affectivity of Jesus, who is God and fully human, that is communicated to the man with the intensity of His gaze and to us as well.  Then Jesus gives Him a stronger invitation.  “Go, and sell what you have and give to the poor”.  He immediately adds that he will then find a treasure in the Kingdom of God.

The result is other than enthusiastic.  The man goes away sad because “he had many possessions”.   Yesterday, today, and tomorrow this passage is a treatise on wisdom.  It is not wealth in itself but the attachment to money, to things, to persons, and making life a race to ‘have more’ that brings sadness, emptiness, and often the heart’s folly that avidly holds onto whatever possession egotistically managed.

In my pause for silent contemplation, I will ask God to help me be detached from all that separates me from Him and to share whatever I have willingly with others.

Lord, You made poverty the first of your Beatitudes.  Help me understand that it is the trampoline that launches me into true life because it is free, good, and open to giving.

 The Voice of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

 The greatest gift God can give us is to give us the strength to accept whatever He sends us and the will to restore to Him whatever He asks of us.