20190304
STAGES
TO ETERNAL LIFE
04 MARCH, 2019,
Monday, 8th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Green.
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First reading
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Ecclesiasticus
17:20-28 ©
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Return to the Lord and leave sin behind
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To those who repent, God permits return,
and he encourages those who
were losing hope.
Return to the Lord and leave sin behind,
plead before his face and
lessen your offence.
Come back to the Most High and turn away
from iniquity,
and hold in abhorrence all
that is foul.
Who will praise the Most High in Sheol,
if the living do not do so by
giving glory to him?
To the dead, as to those who do not exist,
praise is unknown,
only those with life and
health can praise the Lord.
How great is the mercy of the Lord,
his pardon on all those who
turn towards him!
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 31(32):1-2,5-7 ©
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Rejoice, rejoice in the
Lord, exult, you just!
Happy the man whose offence is forgiven,
whose sin is remitted.
O happy the man to whom the Lord
imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no guile.
Rejoice, rejoice in the
Lord, exult, you just!
But now I have acknowledged my sins;
my guilt I did not hide.
I said: ‘I will confess
my offence to the Lord.’
And you, Lord, have forgiven
the guilt of my sin.
Rejoice, rejoice in the
Lord, exult, you just!
So let every good man pray to you
in the time of need.
The floods of water may reach high
but him they shall not reach.
Rejoice, rejoice in the
Lord, exult, you just!
You are my hiding place, O Lord;
you save me from distress.
You surround me with cries of deliverance.
Rejoice, rejoice in the
Lord, exult, you just!
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.1Th2:13
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept God’s message for what it really
is:
God’s message, and not some human
thinking.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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2Co8:9
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus Christ was rich,
but he became poor for your sake,
to make you rich out of his poverty.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 10:17-27 ©
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Give everything you own to the poor, and
follow me
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Jesus was setting out on a journey when a
man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, ‘Good master, what
must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me
good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You must not
kill; You must not commit adultery; You must not steal; You must not bring
false witness; You must not defraud; Honour your father and mother.’ And he
said to him, ‘Master, I have kept all these from my earliest days.’ Jesus
looked steadily at him and loved him, and he said, ‘There is one thing you
lack. Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you
will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But his face fell at these
words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.
Jesus
looked round and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for those who have
riches to enter the kingdom of God!’ The disciples were astounded by these
words, but Jesus insisted, ‘My children,’ he said to them ‘how hard it is to
enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were more
astonished than ever. ‘In that case’ they said to one another ‘who can be
saved?’ Jesus gazed at them. ‘For men’ he said ‘it is impossible, but not for
God: because everything is possible for God.’
STAGES TO
ETERNAL LIFE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ SIR 17:20-28; 31:1-2,5-7; MK 10:17-27 ]
Are you living in Sheol,
a life of darkness and emptiness?
You are in Sheol if you cannot praise God for the life that you have.
This is what Sirach says, “Who will praise the Most High in Sheol, if the
living does not do so by giving glory to him? To the dead, as to those who do
not exist, praise is unknown, only those with life and health can praise the
Lord.” Those who find life meaningless and a chore are indeed living in
Sheol. They are not happy with their life and they are not happy with
others as well. They are always lamenting about their situation, unable
to see any good in their life to give thanks to God. Such people are
pessimistic about life.
What is blocking us from
seeing the light and our life in perspective? It is our sins of selfishness and
our pursuit of comfort and an easy life. When we seek our self-interest, we only
focus on what others have and what we do not. We fall into the sin of
envy. Before that, we were quite happy and contented with our life, until
we see that others have more or that we have less. We become competitive
and greed enters into our life. We feel that we also need to have what
others have. So we need to repent of our sins to see the
light. “To those who repent God permits return, and he encourages those
who were losing hope. Return to the Lord and leave sin behind, plead
before his face and lessen your offence. Come back to the Most High and turn
away from iniquity, and hold in abhorrence all that is foul.” When we
remove greed and selfishness from our life, then we will be able to see what we
do clearly. In truth, there are many things we do not really need in
life. We can be very happy if we learn the meaning of contentment and to
enjoy what we already have. We must not think that those who live in
luxury, or are holding important positions in life are happy and
fulfilled. These only add more stress, anxiety and responsibilities to life.
That is why we must
accept the fact that life is never easy. God has never promised us an
easy life either.
To His disciples who were ambitious, He said, “You will indeed drink my
cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but
it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father. You know that
the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants
over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be
great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among
you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (cf Mt 20:23-28) To His would-be followers,
Jesus in no uncertain terms said, “If any want to become my followers, let them
deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who
want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my
sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” (Mk 8:34f) And to those would-be
disciples of His, He said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests;
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Let the dead bury their own
dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. No one who puts a
hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (cf Lk 9:57-62)
To find happiness in
life, the Word of God asks us to obey the Commandments. When the rich man asked the Lord, “‘Good
master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why
do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the
commandments: You must not kill; you must not commit adultery; you must not
steal; you must not bring false witness; you must not defraud; Honor your
father and mother.’ And he said to him, ‘Master, I have kept all these
from my earliest days.’ Jesus looked steadily at him and loved
him.” Observing the commandments, therefore, is the way to walk the path
of truth and love. It is the way to find peace in our heart and
mind. When we go against our conscience, we cannot live in peace, knowing
that we have not been faithful to God’s voice in us.
Observing the
commandments alone might keep us at peace but it lacks the power to give us the
drive to do things. There
are many Catholics, including priests and religious, who are obedient to the
laws of God. But they do not seem to have life in them. They are rigid,
self-righteous, lacking compassion and judgmental. They become more like
the Pharisees and the rich man in the gospel. They have done all that the
laws require, and they have peace of mind, but they experience emptiness.
When legalism takes over our lives, we behave as if we are robots. Things
run efficiently according to the rules, but it can kill creativity and
initiative for fear that we will break the laws.
For this reason, keeping
the commandments is not sufficient to give us life. We must seek
detachment. Jesus told the rich man, “There is one thing you
lack. Go and sell everything you own.” True joy comes
when we are not attached to our money, power and status in life.
When Jesus told the rich man to sell everything, it does not mean that there
and then he was to get rid of his property. What is important is that we
are no longer attached to them so that we can have the freedom to decide and
use them for love and service. Most of us lack the freedom
to do what we know should be done, or even to express our convictions in life,
because we are curtailed by our desire to remain in power, office, position,
and be in the favour of the majority. That is why those who are
apparently powerful are the weakest because they cannot always speak their mind
or do things that they are truly convinced of, for fear of losing their power,
wealth and position. They are prisoners of the world. Like the rich
man, we read that “his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he
was a man of great wealth.” He was not able to let go of his ambition,
his reliance on worldly goods, and his love for recognition, power and
support. This explains why the Lord said, “‘How hard it is for those who
have riches to enter the kingdom of God!’ The disciples were astounded by
these words, but Jesus insisted, ‘My children,’ he said to them ‘how hard it is
to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the
eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'”
Next, we must focus on
the poor. Jesus said, “give the money
to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” The great
joy in life is to know that we have lifted up the life of someone else.
Giving hope to those who are hopeless, joy to the joyless, love to the loveless
make us truly human and therefore more like God. If God is so full of joy
and life, it is because God is love. To reach out to the poor means to care for
the weak and those who need our encouragement, sometimes in words, sometimes
through a service, sometimes even material and financial help. When our
life is focused on helping others, we will live a most fulfilling life, knowing
that we have expended our life for them. That is why Jesus said, “This is
my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has
greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are
my friends if you do what I command you. You did not choose me but I chose
you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last so that the
Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.” (Jn 15:12-14, 16f) This explains why people find
social work so empowering and enriching in spite of the challenges in helping
the poor and making a difference in their lives. At least at the end of
the day, we feel that we have done our part for humanity and we can leave this
world with a clear conscience. Emptying ourselves as Jesus did for the
world so that God can fill us.
But this is not the end
of the journey. The path of love and service and detachment are the means
to enter more fully into the life of God. That is why Jesus told the man that
after selling everything and giving to the poor, he was to “follow me!”
We do not give up the world for nothing, but for everything. To have
Jesus in our life is what will give us true meaning in life. Being with
Jesus, living with Him and in Him is what will lead us to the fullness of
life. What we need is a relationship with the Lord so that we are in
relationship with our fellowmen. Only relationships that are sincere,
life-giving, faith-filled and positive can bring us true happiness and
joy. With Jesus, we can overcome all the challenges in giving
ourselves to others. For Jesus said, “For men, it is impossible, but not
for God: because everything is possible for God.” Truly with the
psalmist, we can declare, “Rejoice, rejoice in the Lord, exult, you just!”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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