Tuesday, August 16, 2016 20th Week in
Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Ez 28: 1-10 Gospel: Matthew 19:23-30
Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I say to you: it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Yes, believe me: it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
On hearing this the disciples were astonished and said, “Who, then, can be saved?” Jesus looked steadily at them and answered, “For humans it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”
Then Peter spoke up and said, “You see we have given up everything to follow you: what will be our lot?”
Jesus answered, “You who have followed me, listen to my words: on the Day of Renewal, when the Son of Man sits on his throne in glory, you, too, will sit on twelve thrones to rule the twelve tribes of Israel. As for those who have left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children or property for my Name’s sake, they will receive a hundredfold and be given eternal life. Many who are now first will be last, and many who are now last will be first.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
Earthly attachment can spoil discipleship. Consider the story of Peter. He was supposed to give up everything to follow Jesus in the spirit of detachment. But his expectation of ample reward makes his motive suspicions. When Jesus described with a little exaggeration the difficulty of getting to heaven, Peter was close to asking easy backdoor entry because he had given up everything to follow him. He didn’t realize he was asking too much in exchange for the tattered nets he had abandoned, the dilapidated fishing boats he had divested himself of, and the nagging mother in law he had left behind.
He may have even been an entrepreneur expecting a windfall from meager capital. Was it relationship with God he was seeding, or return on investment? Discipleship is relationship, not entrepreneurship.
There is a Peter attitude in many people that sticks its ugly head out even in spiritual transactions.
Consider, for example, the matter of repentance. Many people repent for “fear of the loss of heaven and the pains of hell”. But aren’t we supposed to repent because we have offended God who deserves all our love? If one repents because he is afraid to lose heaven, his heart is still attached. The only valid attachment is attachment to God.
Earthly attachment spoils discipleship. When it does, we continue to fatten ourselves even as we follow Jesus, through indulgence on illegitimate pleasures and get stuck up at the narrow gates of heaven. –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM,, MAPM, REB. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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