There was a priest by the name of
Benedict Groeschel from New York, who founded the Franciscan Friars of the
Renewal. He died last year (3rd Oct, 2014). Fr. Groeschel was an
excellent speaker and in one of his talks he was saying that there was a man he
knew in New York who was a multi millionaire, with more money than he could
ever spend, or knew what to do with. Fr. Benedict went on to say that he was talking to this man at a particular
conference and he—let us call him John Goldman—was saying to Benedict that he
would like to put his money to good use, but he didn’t know what to do with
it. He admitted straight out that he had
more money than he could ever spend. Benedict
said that if he wanted he could give a donation to one of the orphanages that
they ran in the Bronx, as it would make a big difference to them. In spite of the fact that it was this man
himself who brought up the subject and admitted that he didn’t know what to do
with all his money, but wanted to put it to good use, by the end of the
conference he still hadn’t agreed to part with one cent of his money. Fr. Benedict was saying that it was as if he was
possessed by his wealth. He had no
freedom; he wasn’t able to part with it.
Most of us don’t have that kind of
problem. In fact most people have the
opposite problem, but it is still very easy to become consumed even with the
desire for money, or riches, or indeed anything. The problem is not the riches themselves, but
our attachment to them.
In the Gospel which we have just
heard, see how Jesus responds to the rich young man who is keen to live the
right way. When he asks what he should
be doing to get to heaven, Jesus doesn’t say, ‘You should sell all your
possessions’. First he says, ‘You
know the commandments; live them.’ It is
only when he is pushed that Jesus then says ‘Go and sell all you own...’ What is he doing? Jesus is showing the young man that he is not
as free as he thinks he is. In spite of
the fact that he could probably buy anything he wants and do anything he wants
because of his wealth, he is in fact a slave to his riches. Jesus is not just
trying to make the young man miserable, but rather since he did ask, Jesus is
pointing out where the problem is for him. The problem is not in having riches, but that we get so attached to them
that we are no longer free.
You don’t have to be very wealthy for
that to happen either. St. John of the
Cross says that if you become too attached to your rosary beads, then get rid
of them. He also says there is no point
in taking a vow of poverty if you are still consumed with the desire for the
things that you have given up. The
freedom from them is what is really important. Thank God for what you do own, but ask
yourself are you free from it, or a slave to it? Because if you are a slave to it—thinking
that you could not do without it—then your possessions are the master.
Why did Jesus point this out to the
young man? Because He wanted him, just
as he wants us, to be free to open ourselves up to God. God is the only thing that is really
important. Everything else is going to
be left behind when we die, even our bodies. That is why he is telling us not to get caught up in what is ultimately
trivial. Enjoy what you have,
but don’t let it become the master.
Most of us are probably much more
attached to the things we have than we would like to be. I know I am, but perhaps the most important part of this Gospel is the last part. First of all Jesus says ‘How hard it is for a
rich man to enter the kingdom of God’ and the apostles are amazed, just as
most of us probably find this hard to understand too, since the general thinking is that if we had enough
money it would resolve most of our problems. But when they ask ‘Then who can be saved?’, or in modern English ‘Who can
get to heaven?’ then Jesus says ‘For people [by their own strength] it is
impossible, but not for God. Everything is possible for God.’ That is the really important point to
remember. Everything is possible for
God. By our own strength we are very
limited in what we can do, in spite of our best efforts, because we are weak
and we easily get distracted by wealth, or work, or relationships or
whatever. God knows well that we get
caught up in all the wrong things, just like the rich young man in the story,
but God is bigger than all of this. God
is bigger than the mistakes we make, bigger than our mixed motivations for what
we do. That is why we just keep coming
back to him and asking him to help us, to forgive us, to guide us: and He does.
‘If
that is the case, then who can be saved?’
‘For people it is
impossible, but not for God; because everything
is possible for God.’
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