Gospel: 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.
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Reflection:
So near
and yet so far, perhaps this was the predicament of the man who asked Jesus on
what must he do to have eternal life. He already did everything that was asked
of him until Jesus told him to sell everything in his pessession and give the
proceeds to the poor then follow Him. The man quietly walked away for the
reason that he couldn’t let go of his many earthly possession.
Somehow
this man represents all of us we who find it very hard to let go of our earthly
possession in favor of helping others and the kingdom of God. What is with
wealth that we cannot let go? We cannot bring it to our graves we cannot even
possess it anymore when we are already old for someone will possess it for us
or even hide it from us.
Saint
Francis of Asisi was from a noble and rich family he gave-up everything to the
poor so that he could follow God’s will for him. God’s will for us also is to give-up our
riches so that others may live from it. This is very hard to do that requires
radical change of mindset for us to fully embrace it.
Perhaps
if we are not willing to give-up everything because we also have
our own family to feed and take care of. We can give something for
the poor because it’s only through giving-up of something that we treasure in
this world that we could follow Jesus.
Are we
like the young man in our gospel who walked away from Jesus because he had many
possessions? Or we are like Saint Francis of Asisi who gave-up everything to
the poor so that he could follow God’s will for him. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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