MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2010 - TWENTIETH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME
The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, by a sudden blow I am taking away from you the delight of your eyes, but do not mourn or weep or shed any tears. Groan in silence, make no lament for the dead, bind on your turban, put your sandals on your feet, do not cover your beard, and do not eat the customary bread. That evening my wife died, and the next morning I did as I had been commanded. Then the people asked me, “Will you not tell us what all these things that you are doing mean for us?” I therefore spoke to the people that morning, saying to them: Thus the word of the LORD came to me: Say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord GOD: I will now desecrate my sanctuary, the stronghold of your pride, the delight of your eyes, the desire of your soul. The sons and daughters you left behind shall fall by the sword. Ezekiel shall be a sign for you: all that he did you shall do when it happens. Thus you shall know that I am the LORD. You shall do as I have done, not covering your beards nor eating the customary bread. Your turbans shall remain on your heads, your sandals on your feet. You shall not mourn or weep, but you shall rot away because of your sins and groan one to another.
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A young man approached Jesus and
said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is
good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He asked him,
“Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “You
shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall
not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother;
and you
shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still
lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have
and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow
me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many
possessions.
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Do you keep all the commandments? Think about it. The young man in today's Gospel kept all the commandments since he was young. Yet he must have sensed that there was more he should do. "What do I still lack," he asks Jesus.
What he lacked was enough detachment from his possessions to follow Jesus whole heartedly. His treasure on earth was worth more to him than any treasure in heaven he may have gained by giving up his riches. Jesus isn't saying that wealth, or possessions, are necessarily bad. We simply need to have detachment from them enough that we are willing to part with them for the sake of the Kingdom. If we are not able to part with them for the sake of the Kingdom, than they have become more important than God. They, in fact, have become our god.
This is a warning to us in North America. We have many possessions, even though we may think we are not rich. Compared to most of the world we have many possessions. We tend to gather more and more possessions as we go through life's journey. How detached from our possessions are we? How much do we covet what our neighbors have? Are we satisfied with what we have or do we want more and more?
Living simply, being detached from our possessions, is a day to day evaluation of all that we have. Do I need more than one car? If I do, do I need a very expensive car? Do I need every new gadget that comes on the market? What do I have among my possessions that I don't really need? What can I do without? What is my surplus, the things that I need to build bigger barns for? Do we even ask these questions?
Living simply, with proper detachment from our goods, is the call of discipleship. We have no right to horde many possessions while other do without. Look around your house at all that you have accumulated. Do you really need all that stuff? What are you willing to part with for the sake of the Kingdom?
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Lord Jesus, we gather many things as we journey through life. Help me to become more and more detached from my goods that I may share what I have with others so I might better follow you.
Deacon
Ed