Cycle B - Year I:  

10 October 2021: Twenty-eight Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Wisdom 7:7-11

Second Reading:   Hebrews 4:12-13

Gospel:  Please Read  Mark 10:17-30 

Treasures in heaven!

Corruption in public governance has been in the news for some time.  Is wealth so indispensable that people seek it by hook or by crook?

TODAY's Gospel incident is about Jesus' encounter with a young man of great wealth. St. Mark wrote that he was a good man who observed God's commandments from his youth.  But he wanted to be saved and so asked our Lord what else he needs to do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus tells the young man: "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have; then come, follow me." (Mk 10:21)

Sadly, the encounter ends with the young man walking away from Jesus, for he had many possessions.

Jesus uses this encounter with the young man to teach some important lessons to His followers about the kingdom of God, and how we can enter it.

Wealth can be distracting. We spend our energies chasing money and the pleasures it provides rather than investing  our lives into heavenly treasures.

Our possessions can grab a hold on us, steal our freedom and keep us from doing God's will.  This is clearly Jesus' concern with the sad man in the Gospel. He is so attached to his possessions that he cannot do what Jesus asks.

"Who then can be saved?" The disciples asked this questions that all Christians ask at some point in their journey of faith.

The truth is that it is hard for anyone to enter the kingdom without God's grace.  We can not do it on our own. And so recognizing this requires our humility.

As we heard in the Gospel narrative, it is even harder for those blessed with wealth to be able to enter God's kingdom. Now, why is this so? Well, pride is one reason. For wealth can make us feel falsely independent, meaning to say,  without need of God's grace. Our wealth can lead us to selfishness and possessiveness.

Jesus was not against wealth per se, nor was He against the wealthy.  Jesus had many friends who were well-to-do, including some notorious tax collectors. In fact, one even became an apostle. But our Lord warns us against the danger of being rich because it can distract us from investing in heavenly treasures.

Therefore, the central message of the Gospel is that life is more than food, the body needs more than clothing, and that happiness does not depend on earthly possessions. Jesus invites us instead to store up "treasures in heaven" where our hearts will have real rest and true peace.  Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our greatest treasure we can have. So giving up everything else to be with our Lord Jesus is, in fact, the greatest joy.

In sum, the Gospel proclamation demands that we take some time to prayerfully, honestly examine our lives.  May God fill us with His grace this day, free us from all distractions and unhealthy attachments, and strengthen us to joyfully do whatever our Lord Jesus asks of us.

This Sunday is also Indigenous Peoples' Sunday and Extreme Poverty Day.  But it does not mean that the Church "glorifies" poverty by celebrating this special theme.  It simply means that we must remember in our prayers our tribal and poor Filipinos, and contribute or do something about their aspirations for improvement of their material and cultural conditions.  In the words of Pope Francis: "You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That is how prayer works".... with good deeds. Amen.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!