Of Things Divine and Orange

In an age when many of us find it difficult to make ends meet, contemporary society bombards us with a set of values based on the need for material security. It judges our success by the size of our bank account, the extent of our possessions and the exclusiveness of the area in which we choose to live. But the wisdom that comes from God, described in today's first reading, measures differently and ranks power and riches as nothing. Nada. There is more to life than what is immediately apparent, and spiritual values run deeper than worldly standards. We are reminded in today’s liturgy that we cannot buy our way into heaven. If we listen closely, we are being reminded that wealth mixes with worship of God just about as well as oil with water.

The rich young man prided himself on his goodness. He was the essence of respectability; a stickler for going to church and observing the commandments, a stickler for observing teh holy days, a stickler for praying, and stickler for paying his tithes. He had his act together and was assertive enough to come forward to ask Jesus a fundamental question” “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The answer he got was more than he bargained for. His big boast was that he had done nothing wrong in his life, but Jesus was not all that interested in the fact that he had kept out of harm’s way. Christ was more interested in the use he had made of his life, in the good he had done and whether he was prepared to go out of his way to help others. He looked him straight in the eyes with his own piercing eyes described so beautifully in the Book of Revelation and loved him. He looked into his very soul and invited him to sell all he had and to come follow him. Here was a young man brimming with life, yet the peace that he sought was placed beyond his reach because his vision was limited to the material world and was blinded to teh needs of his soul. He went away saddened because he was unable to make the sacrifice. Far from regarding him as a model to be imitated, Jesus singles him out as a warning for those who witnessed the exchange and for every generation that has followed, including ours..

Being rich and having lots of money may not be our problem but all of us are invited to answer the Lord's call: “Come, follow me.” Jesus, when speaking to our hearts in his response to teh young man, is subtly posing an even more important question: “Am I worth following?” He is not asking us to just admire his way of life but to live it, and live it fully not as part-timers but every day. Discipleship is always costly, and following Jesus makes very stark demands on every aspect of our lifestyle. Our following Christ means making the best of our present situation and placing our lives in God’s hands. We have only one life, and Jesus Christ is inviting us to leave the world a better place for our presence than we found it. We achieve this by helping others, and not by grasping everything for ourselves and hoarding it for our posterity.

I want to share with you a story of a man who died in Cleveland, Ohio, late last year, who had two wills, one for the disposition of his earthly goods and one he called a "spiritual will." The son of Polish immigrants, he founded a chain of retail stores across northern Ohio, and his children expected to be well-set for life upon his death, their mother having passed away some years earlier. They were surprised to learn that he had sold all his interest in the retail stores and left all of his accumulated wealth to various forms of Catholic charities that included his local parish, the diocese, various seminaries, Catholic carities, St. Vincent DePaul Society, the Catholic Extesion Society, and a variety of Catholic foreign missions. At his funeral, another will was read by the parish priest. It said: "To my children, I leave my greatest and most valuable possession becasue of my great love for you. Because I came into this world with nothing and leave this world with nothing I hope you will treasure what I have held so dear throughout my life. I leave you my faith. With it I have loved you, nurtured you and helped form you to become the wonderful children you are today. Believe what I have taught you. Love the Lord with all your heart. And try to live more generously than you think yourselves capable. As for your faith: believe it, love it, and live it every day. And your motehr and I will be waiting for you."

It takes faith to accept the Lord’s invitation. It takes courage to live a Christian life in a world that rejects sacrifice and simplicity while embracing the self-indugent accummulation of "stuff." It takes great love to put others first without regard to what others might think or say or what you are afraid they might say about you. But, the reward is much greater and more enduring that anything this world has to offer. The choice seems simple enough.

The young man asked Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life.

Jesus asks us, “What must you do next to gain eternal life?”