Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
Gideon answered him, «If I find favor with you, give me a sign that you are speaking with me. Do not depart from here, I pray you, until I come back to you and bring out my offering and set it before you». He answered, «I will await your return». So Gideon went off and prepared a kid and a measure of flour in the form of unleavened cakes. Putting the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, he brought them out to him under the terebinth and presented them. The angel of God said to him, «Take the meat and unleavened cakes and lay them on this rock; then pour out the broth». When he had done so, the angel of the Lord stretched out the tip of the staff he held, and touched the meat and unleavened cakes. Thereupon a fire came up from the rock that consumed the meat and unleavened cakes, and the angel of the Lord disappeared from sight. Gideon, now aware that it had been the angel of the Lord, said, «Alas, Lord God, that I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!». The Lord answered him, «Be calm, do not fear. You shall not die». So Gideon built there an altar to the Lord and called it Yahweh-shalom.
Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven.
The Lord himself will give his benefits; our land shall yield its increase. Justice shall walk before him, and salvation, along the way of his steps.
Then Peter said to him in reply, We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
“It will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven... Who then can be saved?”
Fr. Fernando PERALES i Madueño (Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain)Today we reflect on the reaction stirred among the listeners after Jesus’ conversation with the rich young man: “Who then can be saved?” (Mt 19:25). The words of the Lord to that young man are undeniably strong—meant to surprise us, to shake us from our spiritual drowsiness. These are not isolated or accidental words in the Gospel; Jesus repeats this kind of message some twenty times. We must remember: Jesus warns us about the obstacle wealth can place on the path to eternal life.
And yet, Jesus loved and called wealthy men without demanding that they abandon their responsibilities. Wealth in itself is not evil—its danger lies in its origin, if it was unjustly acquired; or in its use, if it is spent selfishly without concern for the less fortunate, if it closes the heart to the true spiritual values (where there is no need of God).
“Who then can be saved?” Jesus answers: “For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible” (Mt 19:26). —Lord, You know well the skill we humans have in softening Your Word. I have to say it, Lord: help me! Change my heart.
After the rich young man walked away, saddened by his attachment to wealth, Peter spoke up: —Grant, Lord, to Your Church, to Your apostles, the grace to leave everything for You.
“In the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory...” (Mt 19:28) —Lord, Your gaze is set on that “day,” on that future. You are a man with a tendency towards the end of the world, towards the fullness of humanity. In that day, Lord, all will be new, renewed, beautiful.
Jesus tells us: —You who have left everything for the sake of the Kingdom will sit with the Son of Man… You will receive a hundred times more than what you have given up… and you will inherit eternal life… (cf. Mt 19:28-29).
The future You promise to Your own—those who have followed You, setting aside every obstacle—is a joyful future, the abundance of life, the fullness of God Himself.
—Thank You, Lord. Lead me to that day!
Thoughts on Today's Gospel
“For it is easier for the sun not to give heat, nor to shine, than for the Christian not to send forth light… Do not insult God. If we once get our own affairs in a right state, the other will certainly follow as a natural and necessary consequence.” (St. John Chrysostom)
“The Christian vocation is first and foremost a call to love, a love which attracts us and draws us out of ourselves, towards its liberation through self-giving” (Benedict XVI)
“The Church prays that no one should be lost: "Lord, let me never be parted from you." If it is true that no one can save himself, it is also true that God "desires all men to be saved" (1 Tim 2:4), and that for him "all things are possible" (Mt 19:26)” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1,058)
