Gospel Reflection

October 14, 2012

Year of Faith

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

by Rev. Fr. Ricky Montanez (Assumption Fathers)

Sunday Anticipated Mass, San Pedro Poveda College Chapel)

Reading 1 Wis 7:7-11

I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire. Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, and I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep. Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.

 

Responsorial Psalm Ps 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17

R. (14) Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
Make us glad, for the days when you afflicted us,
for the years when we saw evil.
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!
Let your work be seen by your servants
and your glory by their children;
and may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!

Reading 2 Heb 4:12-13

Brothers and sisters:
Indeed the word of God is living and effective,
sharper than any two-edged sword,
penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow,
and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
No creature is concealed from him,
but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him
to whom we must render an account.

 

Gospel Mk 10:17-30

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother." 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.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God." Peter began to say to him, "We have given up everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come."

 

or Mk 10:17-27

 

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother." 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.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God."

HOMILY

I remember running home from school one day, with my grade report. I was so excited to show my semestral grade report to my formator. This was in the States. With all my pride and dignity, I showed my grade report to my formator, waiting for what he will tell me. He looks at my grade report with careful scrutiny, looks at me, and tells me "This couldn't be real. This couldn't be possible." And you could imagine how disappointed I was.

Today's Gospel brings back that memory. I know that my formator was very proud of me and was very happy with what I have accomplished, yet he was challenging me to do even better, and to realize that there was, and still is, room for improvement. He even told me, "you can never be God".

I am like the man in the Gospel that we have just heard - the man who ran to Jesus, eager to know how to inherit the Kingdom of God, and wanting to let Jesus know that I have lived a good life by following the commandments since my youth, only to be told that it was not enough. Of course, Jesus looked at the man with love, and Jesus probably appreciated what he did, for having kept the commandments. But like me, his demeanor changed when Jesus challenged Him to do one more thing, and that is to give up everything in order to follow Jesus. We know that the man walked away sad, because the Gospel said that he had many possessions. We do not know whether he went back and changed his mind and followed Jesus. But he went away sad. That is where we had left off.

In the Gospel, we know that giving up possessions is a metaphor for total surrender of oneself, not only things. Sometimes, it is easier to give up things, but it is harder to give up our very selves. Nothing or no possessions should stand in the way of following the Lord. And we are even invited to give up the greatest possession that we have - our very selves. I know it is not easy.

We had a brother (again in the States) in the community, who sings the loudest during our community prayers. For a while, it became a problem for all of us because first of all, he was not blessed with a good voice, and secondly, he does not really get it quite right. Every time he sings, either it is lower, or higher, and then he brings everybody down because of his loud voice. And so when it became really a problem in the community, somebody had the courage to confront him, to tell him that "This has been affecting the community because your voice is really loud, everybody is disturbed, and we could not pray". And our brother said, "Well you see, my voice is as big as my ego". How can you possibly answer to that? How can you possibly resolve the conflict?

Many times, it is the giving up of ourselves, of our pride, of our opinions, of our ideas, our way of seeing and doing things, that is hardest to do. How can they not think the way I think, or how could they possibly not see the things I see? And this is what Jesus is trying to invite us to - and this is also what the First Reading is trying to point out to us. A truly wise person is someone who realizes that possessions will not bring him to eternal life or will not merit him the Kingdom of God. In the Gospel, Jesus is teaching us that following Him is greater than any possessions, and this is the way of wisdom. Wisdom is more than all the possessions that one could ever acquire. That is what the First Reading is trying to tell us.

Therefore, in following the Lord, we are invited to minimize the things that distract us from genuine discipleship and to increase or maximize those possessions that will help us follow the Lord more closely. And what are those? Perhaps, for example, we can increase our time and energy in doing good for others. Perhaps it is deepening our concern for others, especially this Sunday, when we are invited to think about our indigenous brothers and sisters and the less fortunate in our midst. Perhaps it is strengthening our capacity to love others, especially those who we find hard to love. And even perhaps to love ourselves, or to expand our hearts to forgive those who have hurt us, or perhaps to forgive ourselves for our past mistakes. And to make extra effort to really live out the Gospel in our lives. Perhaps those possessions will help us to become more and more genuine disciples of the Lord. Perhaps not really running, not really racing, not even brisk walking, but moving steadily towards the Kingdom of God which has been promised to us.

And so we pray for this grace in our lives, that we may steadily move toward the Kingdom of God. Our own efforts cannot guarantee it, but we can do it with God's grace.