Sunday, October 13, 2024

Our Gospel this weekend is the story of the rich young man who comes to Jesus and asks what he has to do to gain eternal life.  He has observed all the commandments, but he has a feeling that more is needed.  Jesus tells him to sell what he has, give the money to the poor, and come follow Him.  The man goes away sad.  Why?
 
I think Jesus realized that the man did not own his possessions, but rather that the possessions owned him.  We are told that Jesus loved the man, so obviously he wanted the best for him.  Jesus discerned that what the man was missing, what he needed, was to be freed from the attachments to his things.  But, unfortunately, he couldn’t do it.  Was he sad because he instinctively knew that was what he needed to do to fill the hole in his life, but yet couldn’t do it?
 
The message to us is to be careful that possessions, or the desire to acquire them, does not dominate our lives.  An example could be a father who is working all the time in order to get a lot of “things” for his family and so is not there for his children.  It is the son or daughter who is so possessed by the cell phone or computer that they have no time to help an elderly parent.  It is the person who hoards more and more things, not being able to share with others.  And so on.
 
Possessions in themselves are not bad.  We need things to live.  But that can easily take an oversized place in our lives, cutting us off from others and, ultimately, true happiness.
 
I invite us to reflect this week on our relationship with things in our lives.  Do we own them?  Or might they own us?  How can we get free?
 
Church sign: The less you have, the more you have to look forward to.