Wisdom 7:7-11
Psalm 90:12-17
Hebrews 4:12-13
Mark 17:17-30
“At this statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many
possessions.”
As we hear this statement about
the Rich Young Man in the Gospel going away sad, we should feel a similar
sadness in our own hearts. The main point is not that the young man is so
caught up in the worldly possessions he own. This is a story of a great lack of
faith – he followed all the laws and commandments, yet he did not have faith in
the Divine Lawgiver or the promise of heavenly treasure. It is because of his
lack of faith that he does not come to know Christ. If that thought doesn’t
evoke sorrow for him within our hearts, it’s time to do a little soul-searching
because if we have come to know Jesus Christ personally in our own lives and
experienced the incredible gift of being friends with the Lord, it should hurt
us to see others come so close to Him and not experience the same.
This past Thursday, Pope Benedict
XVI began the Year of Faith, lasting from October 11 of this year until
November 24, 2013. Thursday was the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the 20th Anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. But that wasn't the primary reason for the Holy Father calling this Year of Faith. Rather, it was because of what he has identified as a 'profound crisis of faith.' Namely, the world around has lost the sense of God, faith, and anything other than what the world around us offers. To combat this, this year is supposed to be one in which each of us focuses
on our own “authentic and renewed
conversion to Christ” so as to be more compelled and better able to share
our Catholic faith with the world around us; and our Gospel passage today gives
us a beautiful outline of how to do so.
St. Mark’s description of the
young man running up to Jesus seems to imply some urgency on his part; he has
something important to ask. “What must I
do to inherit eternal life?” How do I get to Heaven? This is an important question and one which all of us should have asked ourselves before and must ask again from time to time. This is the first point in authentic conversion
to Christ – we must realize that we have been created for something more than
this life. We have been created for Heaven and that inheritance awaits us, but
we must first walk the path to get there.
This brings us to our second point in conversion to Christ. Upon hearing the young man’s question, Our Lord recalls
the Commandments. In speaking of these laws, Jesus is telling the young man the
actions that must be done or avoided. This is necessary because doing what God
desires is the path to Heaven. For us today, this path is quite clearly marked
out for us by the Church. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the teaching of Jesus
Christ has remained the same in its essence for nearly 2000 years. This faith
has been beautifully preserved in the Catechism
of the Catholic Church, a book published 20 years ago under the guidance of
Blessed John Paul II that outlines all the essential elements of our Catholic
faith. We Catholics must know our faith so that generations after us can
benefit from the beauty and wisdom of the teaching of Christ just as we have.
Upon hearing the Lord’s response
about the Commandments, the young man says that he follows all the
Commandments. Then something unexpected happens - Our Lord invites the young
man to go an extra step and place his trust not in commandments or created things,
but in Jesus Himself. He says simply, “follow me.” This personal invitation to
relationship with Jesus is the key to personal conversion. Surely we must long
for Heaven and we must know the teaching of Christ on how to get there, but
most important of all is the relationship with Jesus Christ. Without this there
is no conversion, there is no change of heart. The Letter to the Hebrews,
written years after the death and resurrection of the Lord reminds us that “the
word of God is living and effective” – Jesus Christ is still alive and very
much at work in the world and in our lives. In the same way that Jesus looked
at the young man and “looking at him, loved him” He does the same with us. In
this moment Jesus in all of His glory is looking at each of us, loving us and
inviting us to renew our commitment to follow after Him. The Gospel passage etches into history
the reality of the young man’s lack of faith. Let us today begin a new story
wherein each of us is etched into the memory of our family, friends, and
community around us not as a person who lacked faith but rather as a person who
was fully alive with faith in Christ Jesus.
And how do we become those people
of renewed and vibrant faith? We can read about our faith, we can put faith
into action by acts of charity, and we can come to various classes and meetings
to build us up in faith. But most of all, we must simply draw closer to Jesus
Christ and know in our heart that He is alive and He loves us. This knowledge
can only be found in prayer. So, in the end, while we are called to do many
things, we must done only one – pray, pray, and pray.
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