I Know That Young Man - Homily 28th Sunday OTB

 Praise be Jesus Christ fore ever and ever. Amen

I joined the PSR classes this morning and heard the teacher asked the class, “what are the rules that God has given us to live by?” She continued, “Does anyone know the answer?”

The class just looks at her. I'm standing behind holding up 10 fingers. Then, she holds up both hands with all her fingers outstretched “The 10…”

One little boy shouts out, “The 10 fingers!!”

Not exactly right, but maybe a good answer - think about it.

God loves us so much he wants to hold us in his loving hands. Those 10 commandments are like the 10 fingers that hold us close to him. The truths of how we are to love him and love each other.

Today’s Psalm proclaims “May the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands!

In the gospel today, a young man asks Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus answers him “You know the commandments….”

The young man assures Jesus that he had observed since he was a child.

Jesus loved him, but said, “You are lacking one thing. Go, sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

At that statement the young man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

It is the same place many fail; myself included.

I recently completed the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. One thing the retreatant must do is recognize their poverty. A poverty found in the times failed in life by their sins. Times separated from the riches of a relationship with our heavenly Father.

The way to recall and reflect these times is prayer. “I prayed and prudence was given me; I pleaded and the spirit of wisdom came to me.”

It was a hard to pray about all the times I hurt God. One friend said after he started this exercise, he wanted to run and hide from God because of his sins and the hurt he had brought to God and others. Truth is “Nothing is concealed from him; everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.”

As I reflected, one thing coming upon my heart seemed trivial; but, as I contemplated, it became profound.

In high school, all the football players had a secret spirit booster. These boosters put up signs and spirit posters. They gave treats on game day. My senior year, a sophomore made me cookies every week.

She was a sweet girl but not a good cookie maker.

The day came when our secrete spirit booster was revealed. I was a senior, a football player; but, I had no idea how to interact with girls. When I meet her, my awkward response was – “you can’t make very good cookies.”

I was that young many who came to Jesus. His failure was he couldn’t let go of his possessions. All his stuff was more important to him than eternal life, a relationship with Jesus, and God.

Jesus telling him “give all that you have to the poor and come follow me” was Jesus telling him – “love God with all that you are and love your neighbor.” The pride of the young man for all his earthly possessions would not let him do it.

Pride is the source of most sin. Pride has us put our things before God. It is putting loving our things before loving our neighbor. In my pride I told someone who spent many nights making cookies for me - you don’t make very good cookies. I didn’t treat her the way God wanted me to treat her. I think back about how my pride hurt her.  

As I reflected on it, I saw that same pride in all my sins.

Every one of us, if we look at our sin, will see our failures are the same as that one who approached Jesus. It may not be monetary wealth, but it is something we see as riches. They are the things we put before God and loving others.

"Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For human beings it is impossible, but not for God.  All things are possible for God."

By the greatness of God, his mercy, and his sacrifice - our sins we are forgiven.

I recently read: “Faith without religion is like breathing without air.”

So remember, come to mass and pray every day to draw closer to God. Recognize, we are sinners. Partake of the sacrament of reconciliation. Come to Jesus in Eucharist to have eternal life.

Friends, come and follow Jesus. Be good, be holy, and preach the Gospel by the way you live your life and love one another.

Praise be Jesus Christ for ever and ever. Amen.