the Gospel for today is about the rich young man who asked Jesus what he needs to do to gain eternal life....before i share to ou my reflection on this, here is the Gospel from Matthew 19:16-22
A young man approached Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good?
There is only One who is good.
If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
He asked him, “Which ones?”
And Jesus replied, “You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
honor your father and your mother;
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The young man said to him,
“All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad,
for he had many possessions.
when i heard this Gospel this morning i thought it must have been really sad and depressing for the rich young man....he might be thinking how he can give all he has when he needs to live....he needs his material possessions to survive here on earth....if he is living in our world now where money talks he needs every possession he has.....it must have been doubly hard to imagine that all the things he is doing -- following the commandments -- is not enough to inherit LIFE....
he needs to give all that he has for those things are tying him down....he is not able to fully serve God because all his material things are taking away his attention from the Lord....
i said i'm luckier than this rich young man for i have no material possessions to boast of....i said i have almost nothing so naturally i have nothing to give....in fact if this story is happening now i think i should be one of those who deserve to get something from whatever that young man will so decide to give....im always concerned where to get money next....then i realized im no different from that rich young man....like him i am also tied down by my earthly concerns -- i with my worries how to get money -- him with all his money......
if i will not be tied down with this concern i can fully do what i need to do....and that is to follow the Lord....this is very difficult to do....like i've said we all need money to survive....we can do almost nothing without it....so what must i do?....forget about thinking where to get money to pay the bills or to buy meds?....forget about looking for money and just run away from my obligations?....that is not possible, i believe....maybe i just need to fully trust in the Lord and not worry about it....maybe i just need to trust in his goodness that all my concerns will be take care of.....maybe i just need to believe that he has in his possession all that i will ever need here on earth and all i need is to ask from him....maybe ill do these....easier said than done....God grant me the grace to fully trust in you....
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