Introductory Prayer: Jesus, I believe in you. I believe that your words are for me, you want to talk to me. I trust in you, I open my heart to you, for you want only what is good for me, although sometimes I do not recognize your goodness and turn to other things for happiness. I want to love you as you deserve, more than anything else in this world.

 

Petition: Increase my trust and love, so that I will be more open to your will and find joy in doing it.

 

Gospel: Mk 10:17-30

 

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother". He replied and said to him, "Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth". Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me". At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God"! The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, "Children, 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 one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God". They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, "Then who can be saved"? Jesus looked at them and said, "For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God". Peter began to say to him, "We have given up everything and followed you". Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come."

 

1. Good Teacher, What Must I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?

 

Time is a talent entrusted to us, which all too often we overlook. Whether rich or poor, vigorous or sick, we all have the present moment in our hands. How can we use it to the best advantage? If we are shrewd, like the man in today's gospel, we will seek to invest act in a way that will insure an even greater good, eternal fruits, eternal life. This life is open to a future life and not a treadmill constantly turning but going nowhere. If we want to find that future and the way to get there, Jesus is the person to turn to, he is the one to ask how.

 

It is striking that the young man who approaches Jesus is rich. He had many possessions, all those things we suppose would make us happy if we had them. Yet he was searching. There was a happiness beckoning him that could not be found in what he had and could only be attained by doing something more. What must I do to attain eternal life? One advantage of affluence is that it betrays itself, sooner or later it shows us that material things are not the answer. The news is full of the results, schoolyard shootings and suicides. This life has no meaning if it is everything and not leading somewhere beyond itself that is better and more durable. Today's world needs Christ's message more than ever to regain hope.

 

2. How Hard It Is for Those Who Have Wealth to Enter the Kingdom of God!

 

The young man is in for a surprise. First Jesus reminds him of the commandments and when the young man tells him he has always kept them, instead of adding more things for him to do or excusing him from any further effort Jesus anticipates in his answer something that Paul would put into words years later when writing to the Corinthians, if I do all the most heroic things and have not love, it is nothing. Jesus invites the young man to forget about himself, to put all his trust in God, to love God above all things in a heroic way by selling everything and dedicating himself to the Kingdom, following Jesus. Jesus made him this invitation because he loved him. However, sometimes we don't recognize love because it asks so much of us. 

 

The young man had, as it were, his hand on the plow. Now he looks back, at all those wonderful possessions he had. There is where his heart really was, not in eternal life; at least not if the cost was to give up all those things, all his stuff.  It is time to look into my own heart. I may not have many possessions, but I do not always do what my conscience tells me Jesus is asking of me. In Christ's presence I need to ask him what those things are that mean more to me than him, than souls, than eternal life. My plans, my comfort, my vanity?

 

The greatest obstacle to Jesus entering my life and to my fulfilling his plans and reaching eternal life is in the attachments of my heart, and that is what makes a rich man of each one of us.

 

3. We Have Left All Things. You Will Have a Hundred Times More Now, and Eternal Life"

 

Although the external value of what they gave up may not have amounted to much in comparison to what Jesus asked of the rich young man, still Peter and the other disciples had left everything to follow Jesus. Even if it were only comparable to the widows mite, it was still everything they had. Jesus had conquered their hearts to the degree that they preferred to follow him than to hold onto their boats, nets or the security of a job as a tax collector. If only Jesus could capture my heart in the same way, how things would change!

 

Jesus tells them that they will have their reward. He speaks not only of the material things they have given up, but also of the relationships they have sacrificed. And he says that he will not be outdone in generosity. He will give us more joy than any amount of material things, even ten times what we give up for him. This is his pledge. And eternal life. (And one Gospel writer adds, and persecutions).

 

Will I take him at his word?

 

Conversation with Christ: My Jesus, you know my heart and my longing to be generous. Grant me the grace to know you and love you so that you will mean more to me than any material thing or any human love. Place in my heart and soul an authentic, clear desire for eternal life. Clear away the attachment I have to the passing things so that my possessions, whatever they are, will not possess me. I want to be truly yours!

 

Questionnaire:   This optional questionnaire is intended to help you evaluate your life in light of the inspirations God just gave you in these moments you spent with him in prayer.

 

1. Have I honestly asked Our Lord in prayer what it is he wants of me? Do I say like Samuel, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening?

 

2. Is there anything that my heart is attached to, which conditions my love for Christ?

 

3. Can I really say I desire eternal life? How do I show it? Do I really want others to receive the gift of eternal life as well?