"GO SELL WHAT YOU HAVE, AND GIVE TO THE POOR,AND YOU WILL HAVE TREASURE IN HEAVEN;
THEN COME, FOLLOW ME."
Material riches are not an evil in themselves. They become a blessing if we keep our hearts detached from them and use them generously to help those in need. Then we are also spiritually rich, and our generosity becomes liberating for us and uplifting for its beneficiaries.
But material wealth becomes a curse when it destroys the sensitivity of those who allow themselves to be dominated by the craving for it. Woe to us if we allow material riches to possess our hearts! We would soon find ourselves in a state of spiritual bankruptcy.
Let this Eucharistic celebration remind us of the superiority of the spiritual values and give us the grace to use our material resources according to God’s plan.
Today, Indigenous Peoples’ Sunday, we are also expected to remember and pray for the original inhabitants of the Philippines. We are exhorted to recognize and respect their rights and to love them as our brothers and sisters in Christ.
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments:
The man replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in 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 man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “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.”
Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters, or mother or father, or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands – with persecutions! – and eternal life in the age to come.”
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness.
You shall not defraud.
Honor your father and your mother.”
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness.
You shall not defraud.
Honor your father and your mother.”
At that statement the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “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.”
Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters, or mother or father, or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands – with persecutions! – and eternal life in the age to come.”
