28TH SUNDAY, 10 OCTOBER 2021, HOLY MASS REFLECTION
WIS 7. 7-11; HEB 4. 12-13; MARK 10. 17-30
Focus: Wisdom is one thing that is lacking in the world of today. This leads to all other deviations and distortions, ending in destruction
1. The world of today can feel great and proud because of its advancement and progress in various fields. But there is one thing that is lacking. This brings to mind the very same remark of Jesus to a rich young man in today’s gospel: “you lack one thing”. He had the sincere desire to inherit eternal life. He had been faithful to keep the commandments of God. But that is not enough. He still lacks something.
2. What is this that is lacking? In the light of the first reading from Wisdom, it is wisdom that is lacking. He lacked wisdom. He lacked the wisdom to realize the value of wisdom. Wisdom is preferable to scepters and thrones. In comparison to wisdom, all wealth is accounted as nothing, all gold is as sand and all silver is as clay. She is to be loved more than health and beauty.
3. Lacking this wisdom, he failed to realize transitoriness, the secondary value of riches. He failed to be aware of the dangers of riches. He failed to detach himself from the entanglement to the riches. He failed to share generously his riches with the poor and needy. He failed to make a choice for the Lord to follow him. He failed to realize that heavenly riches are much more important and lasting than material riches. He failed to realize that eternal life is the most precious treasure than all the earthly wealth.
4. It is in this context that the statement of Jesus makes sense: “How difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom!”, declares Jesus.
Yes, really difficult. Why? Many reasons; there are different possible dangers because of riches:
1) Riches can make one feel self-sufficient and self-complacent, a feeling that I am enough by myself, I have enough, I do not need anything or anyone, I do not need God.
2) Riches can make one distant from God: when one does not feel the need of God when one does not realize the role, value, and importance of God in one’s life, then naturally there is the distance from God.
3) Riches can make one arrogant toward others. Riches give a false sense of dignity, security, and greatness, a false sense of superiority. One thinks that he is on top of the world and all others are under him; a feeling, I am greater than others, bigger than others. Therefore, there is every tendency to disrespect, degrade and despise others.
4) Riches can make one materialistic and earth-bound. Riches mislead one to think that the value of life consists in things, in the abundance of material possessions. Consequently, one will lose sight of the value of human relationships and spiritual concerns. Material wellbeing becomes the norm and goal of the whole life. And so, one easily becomes greedy, money-minded, comfort-seeking, dishonest, and manipulative. Thus, instead of being masters over the material things, one becomes a slave of them.
5) Riches can make one prone to bad habits and vices. When there is money, there is easy access to pleasure; money becomes the wide door to all kinds of deviations and aberrations. That is why very often children and youngsters get spoiled and ruined by drugs, smoking, drinking, flirting, etc. because of money in hand. Money is the easy trap for many temptations and attractions. Take away the money and you will see how much bad can be reduced and controlled.
5. Does it mean that rich people cannot be good? Does it mean that rich people cannot be faith-people, cannot be closer to God, and cannot be saved? Does it mean that riches are to be condemned and despised? No. we are not generalizing and categorizing. We are rather speaking of the serious dangers, which are very real in many cases.
6. However today Jesus is showing us the right perspective, the balanced approach towards riches. There are some cautions, some responsible measures, some guiding principles, in the light of Peter’s question and Jesus’ answer.
1) First, God and love for the Lord should be our highest priority, and not riches or things. It is this which makes the disciples renounce everything and follow the Lord.
2) Second, Make the Word of God the guide and the norm of our life, as the second reading from the letter to the Hebrews extols the word of God. Allow the Word that is living and active, and like a sharp sword to pierce into the deepest recesses of the heart. Lay your life bare before the discerning wisdom of God, in all honesty, and docility.
3) Third, cultivate constantly a spirit of detachment, even amidst riches and possessions. We should not be possessed by our own possessions. The root cause of all evil is the attachment to riches. In this context, it is worth noting what St Francis de Sales admonishes: Let not riches be in your heart and let not your heart be in the riches. But let your heart and riches be in God. We must be like a pharmacist who has poison in his store. But he will not die of it because the poison is not in his body but only in his store. In the same way, we too even though being surrounded by many material things, should not be contaminated and spoiled by them.
4) Fourth, grow in the spirit of giving and sharing. The paradox with riches is: the more we accumulate them, the more we lose them; but the more we use them and share them for good, the more they get accumulated for heaven.
Direction: What we preserve with greed, is our loss of capital without interest; but what we always give away in generosity, is our investment with profit. Let us then grow more sober and rich in the sight of God.
(REFLECTION FROM 2020)
On Matthew 19. 13-22 (17 August 2020):
Focus: To belong to God, to be the people of God, to be a disciple of the Lord is not a one-time business, nor a matter of a long tradition. There can be no halfway, but it is to be radical in perfection
The question of the young man at the outset looks very appreciable: “What good I must do to gain eternal life?” But a little deep attention reveals its lack of depth. He seems to think that it is something that he can gain and acquire by his own efforts. He thinks that it is a matter of doing and his own doing. In sum, he thinks of eternal life as something which he can take hold of due to his doing some good actions, particularly the observance of the commandments. In fact, he is already doing enough and more, especially in a world where following the commandments is itself a very big thing. But Jesus’ ideal is more than mere enough. He tries to raise the attention of the young man to the level of the most, the best, the maximum, the perfection. That is why Jesus throws the challenge to the young man, “If you wish to be perfect, go and sell everything, and then come and follow me”. Thereby, the mind of Jesus is very clear: a true disciple of Christ should soar for the highest, for the radical, for a total detachment and dispossession, and a stable, unceasing following of him. Let us not argue unnecessarily that it is not fair and reasonable to give up everything, that Jesus’ demand is very unrealistic. We should rather understand the spirit behind it.
Real perfection has no room for minimums, but full and total. It is not enough to observe some rules, not enough to do some good once a while, not enough to listen to God and follow him once a while as a “guest-disciple”. But it needs a total surrender and commitment, always and everywhere. Many today are like the young rich man in the gospel who want to be perfect and are not ready to let go of themselves and let Jesus in and follow him constantly. Many are like the people described in the first reading: they shall rot away because of their sins and groan one to another.
Direction: Let us not cling to temporary riches and shallow pleasures, and thus lose touch with Jesus and fail to follow him. It would be an irreplaceable loss!
On Matthew 19. 23-30 (18 August 2020)
Focus: Riches and material abundance are very precarious because they can easily lead one to self-sufficiency, self-exaltation, and arrogance.
“How difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven!” The words of Jesus sound hard. But it is no prejudice against the rich, nor it is an exclusion of the rich from heaven. It shows the practical reality. It is very difficult because of the all-too-real dangers of riches. Riches can be easy traps and broad doors for undue self-complacency, arrogance, false greatness, neglect of God and incline to vices and shallow pleasures. Therefore, one has to be cautious and judicious in regard to material riches, lest they become pathways for downfall.
Some effective remedies will be: Give priority to God, loving and following Him. Cultivate a deep spirit of detachment from the material, not contaminated by greed and not falling to comfort-seeking. Foster a spirit of generous giving. Every act of self-emptying and self-giving for God and good, will be abundantly blessed and rewarded by God with spiritual joy and eternity. The paradox of riches is: the more we crave to gain them, the more we are lost.
Direction: Sharing is an investment with profit while accumulating is like the loss of capital with no interest. Self-emptying is the royal road to get the divine filling
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