August 21, 2017 Monday, 20th Week in Ordinary Time 1st reading:
Judges 2.11-19
Gospel: Mt 19:16–22
A young man approached him and asked, “Master, what good work must I do to receive eternal life?” Jesus answered, “Why do you ask me about what is good? Only one is Good. If you want to enter eternal life, keep the commandments.” The young man said, “Which commandments?” Jesus replied, “Do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.”The young man said to him, “I have kept all these commandments, what is still lacking?” Jesus answered, “If you wish to be perfect, go and sell all that you possess and give the money to the poor and you will become the owner of a treasure in heaven. Then come back and follow me.”On hearing this answer, the young man went away sad for he was a man of great wealth.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
In his ‘Thoughts on Various Subjects’, Alexander Pope wrote: “We may see the small value God has for riches by the people he gives them to.” True for material riches! Considering how sparingly God hears the prayers of those who want to get rich instantly we suspect that His priority for his people is not material abundance. Otherwise, he could have lavishly enriched with material windfall the people He calls “blessed”.
The New Testament contains so many passages pointing to Jesus’ higher priorities, and accumulation of earthly riches is not among them. “My bread”, he said, “is to do the will of my Father in heaven.” Today’s Gospel is another eye opener. The rich young man was in real dilemma. Was it worth giving up material wealth that he was already enjoying in favor of heaven that was to him yet a theory he wasn’t even sure about?
We probably pity the young man in today’s Gospel for making the wrong choice of clinging on to material wealth. But could we have done better if we were in his shoes? As Logan Pearsall Smith wrote in his Afterthoughts, “To suppose as we all suppose that we could be rich and not behave as the rich behave, is like supposing that we could drink all day and keep absolutely sober.”
The only time that Jesus encouraged his followers about earthly possessions was when he told them to use material wealth to win friends. The reason why material well-being it is not God’s priority is that it is one of the major causes of aberration upon a person’s power to recognize what is really of value. If it were God’s priority, he would have lavished it upon people in good measure, pressed down and flowing over. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM
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