![\"Jesus](\"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/jesus_and_rich_young_man_mironov.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The gospel reading today has got to be
\none of the saddest stories in the gospels.
\nThis is the only story in Mark\u2019s gospel
\nin which a person called by Jesus
\nresponds not by following
\nbut by going away,
\nby leaving Jesus.<\/p>\n
And of all the people Jesus calls,
\nthis young man seems so promising.
\nFirst of all, he seeks out Jesus.
\nAnd he doesn\u2019t just walk up to Jesus,
\nhe runs up to Jesus as Jesus is about go on a journey.
\nJesus is leaving town,
\nand the man wants to catch him before he goes.
\nSo he runs up and then he gets down on his knees.
\nWe can imagine the look in his eyes,
\nthe eager expression on his face
\nas he asks
\n\u201cGood teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d<\/p>\n
Just from the question alone we can tell that he\u2019s a person of faith,
\na man concerned with more than just this life.
\nHe\u2019s really struggling with how to be a better person.<\/p>\n
There were a lot of people who ignored Jesus,
\nwho paid no attention to his ministry,
\nwho didn\u2019t give him a second thought.
\nBut this young man deliberately seeks him out;
\nhe understands that Jesus is a good teacher,
\nkneels before him,
\nand asks to be taught.
\nHe looks like such a promising disciple.<\/p>\n
And so Jesus says,
\n\u201cYou know the commandments.\u201d
\nNow, we might expect the young man to say,
\n\u201cYes, yes I do, the commandments.
\nHonor my father and mother;
\nDo not kill;
\ndo not steal;
\ndo not covet.
\nYes, know them,
\nand I\u2019ve been working on them, trying my best.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s not what he says.
\nThe young man says,
\n\u201cTeacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.\u201d
\nA beautiful answer.
\nJesus loves that answer.
\nWe can tell because of the next line of the Gospel:
\n\u201cJesus, looking at him, loved him.\u201d<\/p>\n
We know that Jesus loves everyone,
\nbut how many people in the gospels are directly described
\nas being loved by Jesus? Not many.
\nWhat a special line that is in the gospels,
\nespecially in Mark\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\n
Remember that Mark\u2019s gospel is the shortest
\nof the four Gospels
\nthe most direct.
\nMark doesn\u2019t waste words.
\nThat line tells us just how impressed Jesus was by this young man,
\nhow much he appreciates his faith.
\nSo he tells the rich young man what his next step is
\nto inherit eternal life.<\/p>\n
He says,
\nYou are lacking in one thing.
\nGo, sell what you have, and give to the poor
\nand you will have treasure in heaven;
\nthen come, follow me.<\/p>\n
And how does this faithful, promising young man react?
\nDoes he say,
\n\u201cThank you, good teacher, this is what I have been waiting to hear\u201d?
\nDoes he say,
\n\u201cAh, now it all makes sense\u201d?
\nDoes he say,
\n\u201cGot it! Wait here and I\u2019ll be right back after I take care of that\u201d?<\/p>\n
Sadly, no.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that statement his face fell, and he went away sad,
\nfor he had many possessions.\u201d<\/p>\n
He just couldn\u2019t give them up,
\nnot even for eternal life.
\nOne of the saddest moments in the gospels.
\nHe\u2019s so close!
\nOf all people, he seemed like such a promising disciple.
\nBut he fails to recognize
\nthat the most valuable thing he could possess
\nis nearness to Jesus,
\nthat God is worth more than anything else in our lives.<\/p>\n
He has lost track of what his possessions are for.
\nSo can we.<\/p>\n
And what are they for?<\/p>\n
We can get the beginning of an answer That\u2019s the first point of the meditation, The second point is this: All other things: the sunrise and sunset, the ocean and the sky, So then the meditation continues by saying This is where it begins to get challenging. God has given us the wonderful gifts of creation to help us fulfill our purpose of sharing in God\u2019s life and love, Like the poor young man, we come before Jesus. The first thing Jesus does when we ask that question I encourage you this week to take some time and imagine that, He looks at each of us with a look that reaches to the depth of our soul. What is it that you or I would rather cling to than let go of What created things are we using in a way Being a Christian disciple is not easy.<\/p>\n If someone like the rich young man\u2014 And Jesus acknowledges how hard it is. But it\u2019s not impossible, This week let\u2019s ask Jesus to reveal to us the one thing getting in the way, The gospel reading today has got to be one of the saddest stories in the gospels. This is the only story in Mark\u2019s gospel in which a person called by Jesus responds not by following but by going away, by leaving Jesus. And of all the people Jesus calls, this young man seems so promising. First of all, he seeks out Jesus. And he doesn\u2019t just walk up to Jesus, he runs up to Jesus as Jesus is about go on a journey. Jesus is leaving town, and...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"One of the Saddest Stories - #Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[349],"tags":[357,340],"class_list":["post-6963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homily","tag-gospel-of-mark","tag-st-ignatius"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/jesus_and_rich_young_man_mironov.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOucj-1Oj","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6965,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6963\/revisions\/6965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nfrom The Spiritual Exercises<\/em> of Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
\nOne of the meditations in the exercises
\npresents a set of guidelines for living that goes like this:
\n“I believe that I was created to share my life and love
\nwith God and other people, forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nthat our ultimate purpose is to share our life, to share our love
\nwith God and other people, eternally.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI believe that God created all other things
\nto help me achieve this goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\ndogs and cats, pizza and beer,
\ncars, jobs, clothes, cell phones, the Internet, music, movies,
\nall these things were created to help us in our purpose
\nof sharing our life and our love with God and other people.
\nThe created world is good because it helps us to fulfill that purpose.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI believe, therefore,
\nthat I should use the other things God created
\nto the extent that they help me attain my goal,
\nand I should abstain from them to the extent that they hinder me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe rich young man\u2019s possessions hindered him
\nfrom fulfilling his true purpose,
\nbut he wasn\u2019t willing to let them go.<\/p>\n
\nbut when they get in the way then it\u2019s time to let them go.<\/p>\n
\nJust as the young man ran up to Jesus
\nhere we are running up to Jesus,
\nabout to receive Jesus in the Eucharist.
\nDuring the consecration in a few moments
\nwe will kneel before Jesus
\njust as the young man knelt before Jesus
\nasking him
\n\u201cGood teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d
\nIn other words,
\n\u201cWhat must I do to fulfill my purpose and have fullness of life?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nis to look on us with love,
\nthe way he looked at the rich young man.<\/p>\n
\nto close your eyes and picture Jesus looking on you with love.
\nWhat does his glance look like, what does it feel like?
\nWhat is it like to have the Son of God look on you with love?<\/p>\n
\nAnd then, from that place of deep love,
\nJesus is honest with us.
\nHe knows us better than we know ourselves.
\nNothing is hidden from him.
\nAnd because he loves us,
\nhe tells us what we need to let go of in order to follow him.
\nWhat does he say?<\/p>\n
\nin order to follow Jesus?<\/p>\n
\nthat hinders our relationship with Christ?
\nCan we let them go
\nfor the sake of eternal life,
\nand accompany Jesus on the journey of faith
\nor will we walk away sadly?<\/p>\n
\nwho kneels before Jesus,
\nwho has kept the commandments his whole life\u2014
\nif someone like him is unable to let go of his possessions
\nfor the sake of Jesus and eternal life,
\nhow much harder it is for us.<\/p>\n
\nHe says it\u2019s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
\nthan for us to give up our possessions.<\/p>\n
\nbecause all things are possible for God.<\/p>\n
\nand then let\u2019s pray for the wisdom and the strength to let it go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"