Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

Gospel: Mark 10:28-31 -
Peter spoke up and said, “We have given up everything to follow you.” Jesus answered, “Truly, there is no one who has left house, or brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or children,  or lands, for my sake, and for the gospel, who will not receive his reward. I say to you: even in the midst of persecution, he will receive a hundred times as many houses, brothers,  sisters, mothers, children, and lands in the present time; and, in the world to come, eternal life. Do pay attention: many who now are the first will be last, and the last, first.”

Reflection:
“We have given up everything to follow you.”
The early desert fathers were clear that simply giving up possessions meant nothing as long as the spirit of acquisition still lodged in their heart. As one of them, Abba Moses, noted,  “There are those who have given away worldly wealth of gold or silver, and who are afterward agitated about a knife, a pencil, a pen, or a pin.” He scoffed at St. Peter, the one-time  fisherman, and his boast to the Lord, “We have given up everything to follow you.” As Abba Moses observed, “It is clear that they had given up nothing but their miserable broken nets.”The  early desert fathers were clear that simply giving up possessions meant nothing as long as the spirit of acquisition still lodged in their heart. As one of them, Abba Moses, noted,  “There are those who have given away worldly wealth of gold or silver, and who are afterward agitated about a knife, a pencil, a pen, or a pin.” He scoffed at St. Peter, the one-time  fisherman, and his boast to the Lord, “We have given up everything to follow you.” As Abba Moses observed, “It is clear that they had given up nothing but their miserable broken nets.”When  we relinquish an identity based on acquisition, a sense of self based on what we own and have, then our lives are rooted in a completely different scale of value. The grasping ego never has  enough, and it is constantly vulnerable to loss. With open hands we have nothing to lose; we can rejoice in what we have received. This spirit of poverty allows us to rejoice in what is  given to us. Thus, St. Francis embraced “Lady Poverty” as his bride —the most beautiful bride in all the world. Those who pursue this route will have their reward—but not as the  world counts it.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Mark 10:17-27 -
Just as Jesus was setting out on his journey again, a man ran up, knelt before him and asked, “Good Master, what must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus answered, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: Do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not  cheat; honor your father and mother.” The man replied, “I have obeyed all these commandments since my childhood.” Then Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him; and he said, “For you, one  thing is lacking. Go, sell what you have, and give the money to the poor; and you will have riches in heaven. Then, come, and follow me.” On hearing these words, his face fell and he went away sorrowful, for he was a man of great wealth.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were shocked at these words, but Jesus insisted,  “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were more astonished than ever and wondered, “Who, then, can be saved?” Jesus looked steadily at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God; all things are  possible with God.”

Reflection:
“Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him.”
If there is one gospel text that recurs with regularity in the lives of the saints, it is the story of Jesus and the“rich young man”who came looking for the deepest meaning of life. (“What  must I do to inherit eternal life?”) Jesus told him,“Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and come follow me.”He was not calling this young man to a life of misery but to a new  life, richer than anything he had known before. St. Mark notes significantly that Jesus looked on the man “and loved him.” But evidently this was both too much and at the same time not  enough for him. Perhaps he would have preferred a list of “five principles,” or “ten easy steps.” He wanted “eternal life,” but not at the price of any significant change in his own life;  certainly not at the expense of his wealth. And so he went sadly away.  For so many of the saints this story represented the pivotal choice for their own lives. Would they respond to Jesus’ challenge and invitation or would they too, like the young man in the  story, walk sadly away? Either way Jesus looks on with love. The choice is ours.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 6: 39-45 -
And Jesus offered this example, “Can a blind person lead another blind person? Surely both will fall into a ditch. A disciple is not above the master; but when fully trained, he will be like the master. So why do you pay attention to the speck in your brother’s eye, while you have a log in your eye, and are not conscious of it? How can you say to your neighbor, ‘Friend, let me take this speck out of your eye,’ when you can’t remove the log in your own? You hypocrite! First remove the log from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your neighbor’s eye.

No healthy tree bears bad fruit, no poor tree bears good fruit. And each tree is known by the fruit it bears: you don’t gather figs from thorns, or grapes from brambles. Similarly, the good person draws good things from the good stored in his heart, and an evil person draws evil things from the evil stored in his heart. For the mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart.

Lectio Divina
READ: We reveal ourselves in the way we speak of others. Jesus says the same: that our words and actions reflect what is in our hearts, whether good or bad. Before judging others we must look to our- selves. And as St. Paul says, we must “improve constantly, in the work of the Lord.”
REFLECT: It is an old saying that a tree is judged by its fruits. Someone may present a virtuous appearance. But how do they speak of others? How do they treat others? Our outward deeds reveal our inward condition. Whether we do good or bad, we draw on what is stored in our hearts. Yet we are quick to focus on what others do and say without examining ourselves. Perhaps it is our own sins and weaknesses that enable us see others’ failings with such accuracy!
PRAY: Lord, make clean our hearts, so that our words and deeds may glorify you.
ACT: Think of the person you like the least. What are the qualities you dislike? Then consider whether you have ever exhibited these same qualities.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Mark 10:13-16 -
People were bringing their little children to him to have him touch them; and the disciples rebuked them for this. When Jesus noticed it, he was very angry and said, “Let the children come to me and don’t stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” Then he took the children in his arms and, laying his hands on them, blessed them.

Reflection:
“When Jesus noticed it, he was very angry and said, “Let the children come to me.”
We hold to a more romantic or sentimental view of children than was common in the time of Jesus. Nevertheless, even today we sometimes take the attitude that children should be “seen and not heard.” In keeping with that attitude, the disciples rebuked those parents who were bringing their kids to Jesus to be blessed. This made Jesus angry. He welcomed the children in a way that represented a rebuke to his adult followers: “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”
It is terrible to consider the number of children in our world for whom life is a daily struggle for survival. Apart from poverty and hunger, there are the scourges of forced labor, trafficking, physical and sexual abuse. And there are other forms of socialization that amount to a kind of abuse: teaching children to hate, to serve poisonous ideologies, to discriminate against others on the basis of race or religious differences. How do we unlearn such things? How do we return to the trust, openness, and wonder that should be the birthright of every child—before they are taught otherwise? Until we find that way, the kingdom of God is closed to us.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019