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:
Would you give up everything to follow Jesus?
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 possession and give the proceeds to the poor then follow Him.
The man quietly walked away for the reason that he can’t let go of his many
earthly possession.
Somehow this man represents many if not all of us we
who find it very hard to let go of our earthly possession in favor of helping those
in need. 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 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 you like the young man in our gospel who walked
away from Jesus because he had many possessions? Or you 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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