Monday

Monday of the Twentieth Week of the Year

We all identify with the rich young man. He is such a good fellow and it saddens us as much as it does him that he can’t sell all that he has to go and follow Jesus. It saddens us because neither can we go sell all that we have and give it to the poor and completely follow Jesus. We all have things we feel we need and can’t live without–whether they’re really needs or wants is another question. One thing is for certain, there are very few of us living the Evangelical Poverty to which Jesus calls His disciples.

We all seem to do all right with living life and keeping the commandments, but perfection, that’s another question. Yes, there are always those special souls like Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, St. Clare and St. Francis who totally embrace poverty and make Jesus their total and complete possession. They shine out like diamonds in the crown of the Church. They also make the Church uncomfortable because they are the living reminder of what Jesus calls us all to be and what we have not yet, and seemingly cannot, attain.

At least they make us a bit less self-righteous and they inspire us to look at what we think we need but really just want. They help us to have a sense of responsibility to those who have little or nothing. They coerce us into sharing and being less possessive and greedy. They do a very important job in calling the Church back to the spirit of it’s Lord, the simple carpenter of Nazareth, who has nowhere to lay His head.

The rich young man is you and I. We will go just so far. Maybe it’s really the most and the best we can do. In our sinfulness Jesus still looks upon us with love and He never casts us off. He is always there for us. He will never abandon us. Never!