August 19, 2013
Monday, 20th Week in
Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Jdg 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.” If being rich were the best that could happen to humanity, God would have prospered the efforts of many to get rich. After all, God wishes only the best for his created beings. So far it is very hard to get rich in this world; either one makes a killing the honest way by killing himself figuratively, or kills others figuratively to get rich literally. Being materially rich is more of an exception than the rule in God’s master plan.
None of the many passages in the New Testament identifying Jesus’ higher priorities include accumulation of earthly riches. “My bread”, Jesus clarified in one passage, “is to do the will of my Father in heaven.” Consistent with this spirituality of detachment he prescribed the same to the rich young man who wanted to be perfect. The young man walked away sad and confused for his possessions were many.
We probably pity the young man for the wrong choice he made, but our reaction if placed in his shoes may not necessarily be different. 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 issue is not the desirability or undesirability of material wealth but whether or not it is God’s priority. It definitely is not; too much wealth can distort people’s values. If it were, God would have lavished it upon people in good measure, pressed down and flowing over. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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