In the Gospel narrative this weekend according to the tradition of Mark, a rich young man asked a fundamental question: “Go teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”. At the firm and honest response of Jesus “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”, the face of the  young man fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

A sad ending to a promising story of discipleship all because of material possessions. What went wrong? The young man failed to discern what is temporary and what is eternal. If only he knew it, I imagine that he would have abandoned everything for the sake of following Jesus and hence receive the eternal reward in heaven.

As always, we are challenged by the Gospel to be more discerning than this rich young man. We are challenged by Jesus to look deeply into our lives and consider responding to a higher calling of following Jesus not only in our poverty, but as importantly, in our obedience to the heavenly Father through the way we serve the Church and all of God’s people regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, social status, or even religious beliefs.

In order for our nation and our church to be healed of the sin of discrimination that permeates our daily actions, consciously or unconsciously, each one of us needs to reflect and listen. And when we think we have listened, we must listen again. We must hear the story and begin to share the journey more deeply.

We must remember that true conversion requires courageous and ongoing self-reflection; it requires each of us to examine our conscience humbly before Christ. We are invited today as a community of faith here at Saint Raymond’s to come together in the love of Christ to better know one another better and to treat people as our brothers and sisters, with generous kindness and sincere love.

Sono semipro grate,
Father Erick

(For the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time)