First
Reading – Wisdom 7:7-11
Responsorial Psalm
– Psalm 89(90):12-17
Second
Reading – Hebrews 4:12-13
Gospel
Acclamation – Matthew 11:25
Alternative
Acclamation – Matthew 5:3
The
Gospel According to Mark 10:17-30 ©
(NJB)
Listen!
The wise pray for wisdom, not things, not outcomes;
pray for wisdom and you will be graced by it, it is yours…simply in the asking.
Incomparable wisdom, its spirit is ready and our
constant aid.
Know this.
God does not intervene in our lives.
God is with us, yes; God speaks to us, always…but
not in words. The presence of God’s spirit within us, is drawing us in with a
gentle gravity. God dwells within everyone in this same way. The divine spirit within
us, is a constitutive element of our being that manifests itself as a desire
and longing for God.
God does not interject God’s self into our lives, neither
does God determine our choices, nor does manipulate their consequences, either
for us or against us.
When we find refuge in the divine, it is a peace we
have made for ourselves; we are the actor and God is the facilitator.
God is never angry with us; we do not suffer because
God desires to see us suffer, we do not sorrow because it pleases God to see us
sorrowful. We were made with these capacities and bound to encounter the world
through them so that we may discover the value of each other through them, and
with them we are also able to experience joy and become teachers of the way.
When we suffer or are sorrowful, when we cause
suffering or sorrow in others, or when we rejoice and are glad; God is with us,
feeling what we feel, knowing what we know and going through our experience as
we experience it ourselves.
Be mindful.
God is the eternal creator of all that is; and we
are but motes of dust in the face of the infinite. We come and we go like dew
in the morning, like frost in the desert that vanishes before the sun.
Each of us individually, and the whole of us
together are infinitely less than the infinite God, and yet the real presence
of God is within us, like a ray of light, originating in time and space and extending
beyond their horizon,
Everything that exists, exists within God, and the
fullness of God exists within you.
Understand this.
Jesus’ teaching cannot be conducted like a shell
game, the way is not a bait and switch, nor is it a long con…though its
teaching authority has been abused in these ways since the beginning, as
Matthew’s Gospel illustrates.
The way
is simple, the teaching of it cannot be controlled or owned by any one group of
people.
God, the creator of the universe, God has hidden
nothing from us, the truth is an open-secret, it is a s plain as day.
The wise and the powerful, the learned and the
clever, the weak and the meek, they all have access to the same truth, to the
knowledge of God, the expectation of justice, of assurance of hope, and the joy
of love.
Who are the wise and powerful, who are the learned
and the clever, who are the faithful and childlike…in every generation you will
see a new group labeling the elder group as out of touch, blind, privileged, in
the dark, corrupt. It is an endless cycle, but the way remains the same;
love justice, be merciful, do good, serve God through the loving service you
provide to one another: your family, your friends, your neighbors, the
stranger, even your adversary.
Just because a person is wise and powerful, learned
and clever, or a child of the church, does not mean they will recognize the
truth when they come upon it, or act upon it when they do.
It is not your station in society, it is not how
other people regard you, it is not the titles you have earned or the ways that
you have been marginalized that give anyone of us the ability to tell how faithfully
you will fulfill the calling to follow Jesus when you have decided to accept
the call.
What matters is the trueness of your heart, and your
willingness to trust in the content of your hope.
Be mindful.
As we all go through life we are forced to navigate
countless paradoxes, we encounter them like rapids in a rushing stream. We come
through the difficult passage battered but blessed, even when we have broken if
we remain in the way we will still be able to delight in the smile of a
stranger, in the kindness of our beloved, in the opening of a flower, the smell
of bread in the oven or a drink of cool water…and share it.
Consider
the Gospel reading for today:
The
kingdom of heaven is not a kingdom in the earthly sense, better to see it as a garden
wherein we walk with God in friendship.
Jesus
is wise to say that no-one is good but God alone, we would all do well to
emulate his humility.
Remember.
In
the parable of the rich young man, we are never told that he refuses Jesus, we
are only told that he goes away sad. The parable does not say that he was sad
because he would not do as Jesus asked, it merely says that he goes away sad,
it may be that his sorrow is related to the fact that he has been asked to something
difficult, he knows it will be hard, but he is determined.
This
is the way.
Today’s
reading also speaks of an expectation of rewards in heaven for good deeds done
in the here and now…this is not the way. The good things we do in the
here and no, do not deliver us into eternity, like some kind of pay it forward
scheme, but rather, they bring the eternal blessing of the divine into the
present moment.
The
garden is not beyond time and out of reach, the garden is brought into being through
the good things we do on behalf of each other, on behalf of the poor, the
marginalized and the needy, everyday
It
is only through service to one another that we serve God, through the love that
we share here and now we experience the divine.
Therefore,
give no thought to what will come in the afterlife, it will be according to God’s
plan, and that is surety enough for me.
First Reading – Wisdom 7:7-11
I Esteemed Wisdom More than Sceptres or Thrones
I prayed, and understanding was given me; I entreated, and the spirit
of Wisdom came to me.
I esteemed her more than sceptres and thrones; compared with her, I
held riches as nothing.
I reckoned no priceless stone to be her peer, for compared with her,
all gold is a pinch of sand, and beside her silver ranks as mud.
I loved her more than health or beauty, preferred her to the light, since
her radiance never sleeps.
In her company all good things came to me, at her hands riches not to
be numbered.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 89(90):12-17
Let the Lord's Glory Shine Upon Us
In the morning, Lord, you fill us with your love.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Lord, you have been our refuge
from generation to generation.
Before the mountains were born,
before earth and heaven were
conceived,
from all time to all time, you
are God.
You turn men into dust,
you say to them “go back,
children of men.”
A thousand years in your sight
are like yesterday, that has
passed;
like a short watch in the
night.
When you take them away, they will be nothing but a dream;
like the grass that sprouts in
the morning:
in the morning it grows and flowers,
in the evening it withers and
dries.
For we are made weak by your anger,
thrown into confusion by your
wrath.
you have gazed upon our transgressions;
the light of your face
illuminates our secrets.
All our days vanish in your anger,
we use up our years in a single
breath.
Seventy years are what we have,
or eighty for the stronger
ones;
and most of that is labour and sadness –
quickly they pass, and we are
gone.
Who can comprehend the power of your wrath?
Who can behold the violence of
your anger?
Teach us to reckon our days like this,
so that our hearts may be led
at last to wisdom.
Turn to us, Lord, how long must we wait?
Let your servants call on you
and be answered.
Fill us with your kindness in the morning,
and we shall rejoice and be
glad all the days of our life.
Give us joy for as long as you afflicted us,
for all the years when we
suffered.
Let your servants see your great works,
and let their children see your
glory.
Let the glory of the Lord God be upon us:
make firm the work of your
hands.
Make firm the work of your
hands.
Amen.
Alleluia
Second Reading – Hebrews 4:12-13
The Word of God Cuts More Finely than a Double-edged
Sword
The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts like any
double-edged sword but more finely: it can slip through the place where the
soul is divided from the spirit, or joints from the marrow; it can judge the
secret emotions and thoughts. No created thing can hide from him; everything is
uncovered and open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of
ourselves.
Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 11:25
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for revealing the
mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children.
Alleluia!
Alternative Acclamation – Matthew 5:3
Alleluia, alleluia!
How happy are the poor in spirit:
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Alleluia!
The Gospel
According to Mark 10:17-30 ©
Give Everything You Own to the Poor, and
Follow Me
Jesus was setting out on a journey when a man
ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, ‘Good master, what must
I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No
one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You must not kill; You
must not commit adultery; You must not steal; You must not bring false witness;
You must not defraud; Honour your father and mother.’ And he said to him,
‘Master, I have kept all these from my earliest days.’ Jesus looked steadily at
him and loved him, and he said, ‘There is one thing you lack. Go and sell
everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure
in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But his face fell at these words and he went
away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.
Jesus looked round and said to his disciples,
‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!’ The
disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, ‘My children,’ he
said to them ‘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 a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God.’ They were more astonished than ever. ‘In that case’ they said
to one another ‘who can be saved?’ Jesus gazed at them. ‘For men’ he said ‘it
is impossible, but not for God: because everything is possible for God.’
Peter took this up. ‘What about us?’ he asked
him. ‘We have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘I tell you
solemnly, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, father,
children or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not be
repaid a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and
land – not without persecutions – now in this present time and, in the world to
come, eternal life.’
A Homily – The Twenty-eigth Sunday in
Ordinary Time (Year B)
