Readings: Jgs 6:11-24a • Ps 85 • Mt 19:23-30
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Today’s readings always make me more
than a little uncomfortable.
Our first reading from Judges really addresses something we’ve all encountered. No, we all don’t have to face armies of nomadic Midianites out to destroy us. But we’ve all experienced times in our lives when things seemed to be crumbling, when all that we hoped for seemed suddenly unattainable. Or when work problems or family problems or health problems just erupted and got to the point where we simply couldn’t handle them well.
And so, like Gideon, we turn to God and
ask that question: “Dear Lord, You know I’m faithful; if You’re with me, why
is this happening?”
We pray every day, we attend Mass, we read our Bible, we do what
we can to serve the poor and we give freely of our treasure to those in need. How
come God doesn’t seem to see all the good we’re doing?
And then, inevitably, when all seems to
be going so wrong, God brings some level of healing into our lives. We come to
realize there’s only so much we can do ourselves, that the only real
solution is to let God handle it, most often by leading us to where we need to
be.
Unlike Gideon, one of the Judges of the
Israelites, God has never sent an angel to guide me – at least one that I could
see. But He has sent me others – perhaps they were angels – but they were often
the least likely people, and yet they inevitably showed me the way.
Looking back on my odd life, I find
myself concluding that God is truly responsible for all the accomplishments I
like to take credit for. But it’s not just my successes that are touched with
pride. Even in my failures, I find it hard to admit that I was the cause…and
that’s pride too.
Yes, it’s all pride. St. Augustine
called pride "the love of one's own excellence." I’ve come to think that sums it up pretty well. When we’re doing well, it’s hard to admit that
everything is a gift from God.
Then, we’re faced with today’s Gospel
passage. After the sad meeting with the rich young man who could not accept
Jesus’ invitation to be a disciple, Our Lord comments on the effects of wealth.
In doing so, He offers us the wonderful metaphor that it’s easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom
of God. Some say Jesus was referring to a narrow gate in
Jerusalem’s city wall called the “eye of the needle.” But if so, that still means
little, since He’s really telling us it’s next to impossible – except for God.
So, what does
the Gospel mean by being rich? I think it means having a large surplus while
around us are so many who lack the basic needs of life. With all that going on
around us, but too often unnoticed, how can we claim to belong to the Kingdom, the reign
of God, which is a kingdom of love and justice?
Later in his
Gospel, in chapter 25, Matthew describes our judgment, at a time when Jesus
equates Himself with those in deepest need.
“I was hungry, you gave me no food; I was thirsty, you gave me no drink; a stranger, you didn’t welcome me; naked, you didn’t clothe me; ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.”
When I hear this, and stop, and look inward, I see all the things that
trouble me, everything that takes up my time, all the stuff I think is so very important…and
discover it all has nothing to do with caring for "the least" of
Jesus' brothers and sisters.
And yet, this is how we will be judged. It’s all about how we use the gifts
God has given us. You see, it all belongs to Him, not to us. And so, we’re
called to return it all to him, by serving those He loves.
Dear friends,
God is omniscient; He knows and sees everything we do, and it gives Him great
joy when we live the Gospel.
But for too
many today, this is a hard thing to accept, a hard thing to do, especially here in our
little Florida island of moderate affluence.
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