Let me tell you a little more about the young man in the Gospel
story.
This young man who came to Jesus was no teenager. He was
a successful young businessman—a sales rep for his company
living in a large all-brick home in one of the fashionable
subdivisions on the growing edge of town, one with underground
utilities, a neighborhood pool and tennis courts. In his garage are a
two-year-old Jeep Cherokee and a new Lexus. He’s proud of his
attractive wife and two active children. But still he’s searching.
He is well-schooled in manners and morality. When Jesus
tells him to keep the commandments, “Do not kill, do not commit
adultery, do not steel…” he answers that he has kept the
commandments from his youth. He has everything going for him.
He is smart, he is responsible, and he is on his way up in the world.
Why, then, does he feel so empty? Maybe he should start his own
business, try skydiving, and learn karate. He isn’t sure what he
needs. But he needs something. His heart is a shell. He feels restless, unfulfilled, as if it is all a meaningless game. Maybe this
itinerant teacher could give him the answer, What must I do?” asks
the young man with great earnestness, “to inherit eternal life?”
This young man is being challenged by Jesus to do some
serious soul searching. To ask some very hard questions about his
life and what fills his life. What gives him meaning?
This Gospel is about Priorities.
What or Who is at the Center of our lives?
What or Who is first and foremost in our lives?
What or Who ranks number one in our value system?
What or Who do we turn to in our quest for fulfillment, our
search for happiness, or desire for peace of mind and heart
and soul?
What or Who?
For the man in the Gospel, money was the answer to most of
these questions. And that is why he went away so sad.
What would I answer? What would you answer? I guess because I am a priest you would expect my answer to be
God. Sometimes it is, sometime it isn’t. When it isn’t, there is that empty feeling inside me—just like this young man I
introduced you to, had in his heart.
I don’t think that Jesus meant that money—possessions were evil
in themselves. Rightly used, money and things can be a blessing.
But when they give us a false sense of security, they become
dangerous. When our possessions possess us—we are headed for
trouble.
Some few years ago, the world mourned the death of Mother
Teresa. She had devoted most of her life to helping the poorest of
the poor. The people of Calcutta called her “the Saint of the
Gutters.” Money meant nothing to Mother Teresa except a chance
to help. A pope once gave her a nearly new Lincoln Continental.
She never got in it. Instead, she sold it and used the money to start
a leper colony in West Bengal. In 1970, she was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize. That included a large amount of money. She
gave every penny of it to feed the poor.
Fr. Andrew Greely wrote an article about Mother Teresa for Newsweek magazine. He told of riding in a cab with her one hot
day in June. The ride lasted an hour. And the two of them just chatted about various things. Looking back on that hour, his most
vivid memory is the radiance and glow of Mother Teresa. He said:
“She was the happiest human being I had ever met.” Who says
you can’t buy happiness? It all depends on how you spend the
money.
A question for this week: Who or What is the Center of our
lives? Who or What?
LORD, WHAT MUST WE DO???
Tags: 10-10-2021