Reflection for Monday August 21, Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope: Matthew 19:16-22

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:

Would you give up all your material riches for the sake of the Lord?

The young man did all of the commandments except for one, to sell all his materials treasures and give the proceeds to the poor. This was the stumbling block to his desire to truly follow Jesus. Not being able to do what Jesus wanted him, he walked away sad for he was rich.

A sad ending to a promising   story of discipleship all because of material possessions. The man failed to discern what is temporary and what is eternal. He didn’t discern that his riches were temporary and following Jesus was everlasting. If only he knew it he would have abandoned everything for the sake of following Jesus.

We are being challenged by the gospel to be more discerning than this rich young man. We are being challenged by Jesus to look deeply into our lives for the reason that we may be slaves already of this material world.

In hindsight, why is it that many of us are very much willing to become slaves of this world when all that is in this world is passing? For example, power, riches and other worldly comforts there will come a time that we will leave it behind.

There will come a time that everything that we have will not matter anymore except our relationship with Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas