August 16, 2011
Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
By Beth DeCristofaro
Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, 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.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:23-16)
Piety
My Jesus, remind me each day to put my face toward our Father and walk beside you rather than walk toward what entices me falsely. May “Thy will be done” begin with me and even when in doubt may I always hope and act that “for God all things are possible.”
Study
The disciples were astonished at Jesus’ teaching but not in the same way we are today. In Jesus’ day, it was believed that good works and piety were rewarded by God with worldly success, wealth and hopefully, long life. Today we are more astonished by the implications that we – who in the vast majority of the Western world – are very rich, should give away what we have or risk not making it to heaven.
We reassure ourselves, somewhat uneasily, that Jesus does not mean this but means instead that we do our duty by God and by Him in our conduct, religious practices and by offering charitable donations, volunteer or in other ways using our riches to help others in a Christian sense of caring. This is indeed part of His message while worldly success is clearly not.
Jesus is more interested in our hearts and where our faith, our hope, our desires, our attention and time are. The world and our lives are rich with opportunities to see God, know God, love God and speak God to one another. Worldly riches distract us with fantasies of fulfillment when the realty – the truth – is that God is our only fulfillment. He means that by putting all aside and God first, the reward is such fulfillment in God’s daily presence that we become rich with God’s love which is then naturally fills and overflows into our everyday. We not only do not need fantasies but we come to participate more fully in the building of God’s Kingdom.
Action
Take stock of where your desires most often draw you. Is it to things or people that make you feel important? Is it to what “fills” a hollow within you? Is it what makes you forget or tolerate that which is hurtful, crushing, or defeating ? Or is it that which just feels too good to be denied? Ask in prayer for the grace to recognize and put aside that which stands between you and the Kingdom. Remember: for God all things are possible.
