Homily: Twenty-eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Homily: Twenty-eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Mk. 10:17-20) “What Do You Say?”
Wisdom is a precious commodity. We are told in the first reading that it is more valuable than gold. Wisdom is associated with enduring truths that are passed down from one period of history to the next.
We have the story of the interaction of two generations in the Gospel today. The conversation is a wonderful example of two people of different ages trying to learn from each other. We can learn much from what read about this exchange. The young man who comes to kneel before Jesus realized that wisdom is something that he wants. He sees Jesus as having tremendous knowledge concerning the spiritual life.
We often think of Jesus as a young man but that is probably a misconception. Jesus, we believe, lived to be 33. The average life expectancy of a person in biblical times was 40 years old. A man would often marry in their late teens. A woman would usually marry in the early teens. Marriage was a sign that childhood was over. A few people didn’t marry. Jesus was one of them, but we believe that he had become the head of his household when St. Joseph died. Jesus had to earn a living so he could provide for his mother and the rest of the family. By the time a person was 33 such a person had a wealth of life experience. And we can assume that they were considered middle aged. Jesus was seen as a wise elder in the community.
In the Gospel we have a young wealthy man who comes to ask Jesus the elder how he can live a good life. We notice how Jesus handles this. He knew the number one precept of adult education. He doesn’t give a quick reply. But he asks the young man what he knows. If he can draw the answer out of the young man, it will have a lasting impact. What is the time-honored truth? In other versions of this story Jesus asks the young man what he has learned about how to achieve everlasting life. The answer that any Jew would give is that you keep the ten commandments. The two men agree about this objective truth. But then Jesus adds the caveat, “Sell all you have and give it to the poor.”
Jesus teaches his listeners that we never achieve the title of perfect disciple. Discipleship isn’t just about memorizing certain truths and following them. When we are young, we do need to learn the basic tenants of a moral life. We need to believe that there are certain ethical norms that we need to keep for the good of the community. But if we want to achieve more in our spiritual life, we need to go above and beyond the commandments and rules.
The Gospel we read today has inspired certain Christians throughout the ages to live heroic Christian lives. We think of St. Anthony of the Desert who lived in the third century in Egypt. He was a rich young man. But somehow, he felt dissatisfied. He had all the material security he could want. But one day, as he sat in Mass, this Gospel was read. He was moved by the Holy Spirit. He sold all that he had. He put together a trust for the younger sister he was responsible for. He then went out to live in the desert with the other desert hermits to spend his life in prayer. He lived in a cave. He fasted. He pursued greater spiritual wisdom. He then passed it on to others.
Are we all asked to do this? No. Jesus doesn’t require the exact same lifestyle for everyone. If we all became celibates that live in the desert the human race would soon be extinct. Jesus does say to each one of us, “What do you hear God telling you about how you are to live right now in your Christian life? Are you listening and responding?”
We are like St. Peter. We wonder, if living the Christian life is worth it? And Jesus gives us the same reply as he did Peter. “Whatever sacrifice you make will pale in comparison to what you will one day receive.” Christians believe we imitate Jesus when we surrender our lives for the common good. And we believe that doing that is the key to an exemplary life in this world. We leave where we will be for all eternity in the hands of a loving God. Wisdom lies in this trusting in the providence of God.
Reflection Questions:
1. How does one achieve eternal life? What did I learn?
2. Who is the elder I learn from? Who is the young person who has challenged me?
Dear Parishioners,
We have a beautiful church, and we want to maintain it. You may have noticed that our old blue carpet is showing its age. The salt and dirt that is tracked in over the winter months has taken its toll. We have received approval from the diocese to take approximately $65,000 from our Preserving Our Treasures account to replace several areas of flooring in our church.
We will expose the terrazzo marble flooring in several areas of the church including the main aisle and the west door. This marble was covered up with carpeting about 50 years ago. A lot of churches covered hard services at that time because it was thought that this would “warm up” the space. As is often the case, opinions changed. Hard services are thought to be more beautiful today. We could consider this a restoration of the original concept for our church.
New tile flooring for the west Sacristy will be a part of this work as well as marble tile for under the vigil light stands. We will carpet under the pews and down the side aisles.
We are not having a special collection for this work, but we do thank the committee that manages our secondhand sale for donating the proceeds of the sale towards the flooring. I would invite anyone who would like to donate towards this project to make donations. Just drop an envelope in the collection marked church flooring. Prudent management of our finances and our His Hand our Hearts offertory program has allowed us to move forward.
Our facilities committee is considering how we can proceed with as little interruption to our religious services as possible. I thank all of you for being flexible in advance. Please watch the bulletin for more details.
May St. Joseph the Carpenter pray for us,
Fr. Mark