Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel
Mt 19:16-22

A young man approached Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good?
There is only One who is good.
If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
He asked him, “Which ones?”
And Jesus replied, “You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
honor your father and your mother;
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The young man said to him,
“All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad,
for he had many possessions.


This lad was thinking of the Kingdom of Heaven
in his own familiar material terms. It was something
he wanted to be able to posess like the other objects
that he has acquired. These objects are used to define
himself. He perceives the great value in the
Heavenly Wisdom of Jesus but his intention is that of
aqusition. When Jesus tells him that to aquire eternal
life it is merely needed to observe the
Ten Commandments the young man tells
Jesus that he has already "observed"
them or otherwise he feels that he has already
aquired that knowledge. What
is it in the emptyness of this individual
who continues to ask Jesus for ways to
aquire The Kingdom of Heaven? It is that he
is approaching the mystery all wrong. Christ has
purchased us the gift, there is nothing we could offer that
would buy what we seek. Once we realize that we are
impoverished when it comes to "Perfection" we can
stop trying to bargin our way into heaven. We must
simply realize that once we are reconcilled by the
Holy Spirit to unity with the Father through the
Body of Christ we are eternal life here and now.

What do I still lack?”

This is the wrong question to ask...you have nothing,
you have purchased nothing, you are poor.

YOU LACK EVERYTHING!

Jesus makes it clear that without redemption
that even the violation of a commandment
in thought is enough to warrant your eternal
death, the justice due you for your violation of the
Covenant of God. Anger is Murder and the
thought of Adultery is guilty of the same,
there is no way to remain free from sin.
You cannot purchase your way out of this
mess because you can hardly imagine how
deeply you have fallen from grace,
even with the miracle of Baptism.

It is not hard to imagine that this young
gentleman is not the same who did sell
all he owned to obtain the Pearl of Great Price...
only to discover that in his poverty that
he was a child of the Father,
a member of the Body of Christ.

You have forgotten God who gave you birth.

What "good" did you do to purchase this current life?