Tag: Rich Young Man

Idolatry

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality3 Comments

Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope
Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
August 21, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082123.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our two readings connect to remind us of an essential truth: stay faithful to God’s Word in order to live in peace, justice, and joy.

The passage from Judges recounts the topsy-turvy history of Israel around 800 years before Christ. It was a time when various Judges served as leaders before the eventual establishment of the kingdom under Samuel.

The Twelve Judges of Israel (in technicolor!)

These were tough times for Israel. One after another, hostile forces rose against them. During each threat, someone would emerge as a deliverer and, with their heroic success, endure for a while as the Judge.

The writer equates Israel’s ups and downs with God’s pleasure or displeasure with the people. When the people broke faith, God punished them with political turmoil. When the people were repentant, God provided a deliverer.

Of course, this is an overly simplified interpretation of events. By infusing God with the human qualities of anger and appeasement, the writer explains complex history as a simple quid pro quo: You’re bad, you get zapped. You’re good, you get rewarded.

We know that our God does not vacillate between angry punishment and satisfied recompense. God is always loving, forgiving, and nurturing. So what can this passage teach us about our own faith life and the spiritual culture of our times?

I found a key reflection point in the passage’s initial phrase: The children of Israel offended the LORD by serving the Baals.

The “Baals” are false gods erected by those who manipulate “faith” to advance their self-absorbed agendas. In the time of the Judges, these Baals might have been represented by carved idols, or natural phenomena such as the moon or stars. In the end, this idolatry – like all idolatries – rewarded some hidden promoter with money, power, or influence.

But what are the “Baals” of our culture? What is our modern idolatry?

Britannica Dictionary offers this definition of idolatry: “A person becomes guilty of a more subtle idolatry, however, when, although overt acts of adoration are avoided, he attaches to a creature the confidence, loyalty and devotion that properly belong only to the Creator.”

As we pray with this passage, we might look to our own society with its infectious materialism, nationalism, consumerism, racism, sexism. These and other imposed societal shackles serve to bind some in order to exalt others to idol status. As it is with any communicable disease, some of these systems – acknowledged or not – may be lurking within us.

Worship of these “isms” falsly legitimizes:

  • the usurpation of the poor in a credit-bound economic system
    (e.g. how many times have you been offered “revolving credit” which makes money on ever-increasing interest rates)
  • the armed control of the defenseless
    (e.g. the insurmountable influence of the gun lobby to produce weapons of mass destruction despite the repeated massacres of our children)
  • the supersession of the haves over the have-nots
    (e.g. college placement of moneyed descendants over academically superior disadvantaged applicants)
  • the veiled acquiescence to white-advantage
    (e.g. entrenched indifference to colorless board rooms, executive suites, and other decision-making forums)
  • the subtle second-classism toward and objectification of women
    (e.g. the range of systemic oppressions suffered by women, from Taliban terrors and sex trafficking to indefensible Church exclusions)

Our Gospel clearly states the antidote to such idolatry:

Jesus answered the young man:

There is only One who is good.
If you wish to enter into life,
keep the commandments:
(Love God above all things,
and your neighbor as yourself.)

Jesus tells him further that if he wishes to be perfect, he will:

  • dispossess himself of anything that distracts him from God
  • follow Jesus and the Gospel with all his heart

I never read that Gospel without realizing that, just like that young man, I have a lot of work to do on my own often idolatrous soul.

Poetry: Sell All You Have – Malcolm Guite

To whom, exactly, are you speaking Lord?
I take it you’re not saying this to me,
But just to this rich man, or to some saint
Like Francis, or to some community,
The Benedictines maybe, their restraint
Sustains so much. But I can’t bear this word!
I bought the deal, the whole consumer thing,
Signed up and filled my life with all this stuff,
And now you come, when I’ve got everything,
And tell me everything is not enough!
But that one thing I lack, I cannot get.
Sell everything I have? That’s far too hard
I can’t just sell it all… at least not yet,
To whom exactly, are you speaking Lord?

Music: Simple Living (A Rich Young Man) – Keith & Kristyn Getty, Stuart Townend

Which Way to Turn?

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, spiritualityLeave a comment

The Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 10, 2021

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 90 along with readings that are both beautiful and poignant.  

In our first passage, we drink from Wisdom’s sweet nectar. This book, written about fifty years before Christ’s birth, is the work of an unnamed Jewish poet and scholar. At points, as in today’s segment, the writer assumes the persona of Solomon, speaking in his name.

We know from the Book of Kings, chapter 3, that Solomon, as a young king, led a faithful and righteous life. Because of this, God offered Solomon “whatever you want me to give you.”

Think of the possibilities for this young man, just on the cusp of kingship! Power, wealth, longevity, peace, prosperity, political dominance – all the things we are inclined to covet in this world.

But Solomon prays instead for wisdom, as described in today’s reading:

Beyond health and comeliness I loved her,
and I chose to have her rather than the light,
because the splendor of her never yields to sleep.

Our Gospel tells of a young man offered an opportunity similar to Solomon’s. Already living a faithful life, he wants to go deeper into God’s heart. 

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,

“You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven;
then come, follow me.” 

But this young man, unlike Solomon, cannot accept the invitation to this deep place of love and devotion. Instead, he goes away sad. It makes me sad, too, whenever I read these verses. I always wish that, after a few steps, he had turned around and shouted, “Yes! I will do what you ask. I love God that much. Help me!”

Like these young men, we have a deep desire to live within God’s love. But are we walking toward that love or away from it? Most of us don’t say an outright “No” to God’s invitation. Instead, we are distracted, lazy, or just not paying attention to the the whispers of grace.

Let’s pray today’s powerful Psalm 90 to open our minds and hearts to God’s hope for us.

Poetry: Based on Psalm 90 – Christine Robinson

We have come out of the Earth
and to the Earth we return
Our lives are but a flash in the light of Eternity.
We are like beautiful flowers which live only a day.
We might live 70 years—more if our strength holds.
So much work and hardship!
How quickly the time passes.

Teach us then, to value our days
to treat each one as a sacred trust.
Fill our hearts with wisdom.
and a love for our lives.
In spite of all the grief and suffering
May we be always glad of this precious gift
And hallow the good in each day.

Music: Fill Us With Your Love ~ Ephrem Feeley

Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Cross, Discipleship, spirituality2 Comments

Monday, August 16, 2021

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we meet the rich young man of Mark 19. Since the first reading and psalm would be challenging to pray with, I would like to offer this homily I wrote some years ago on our Gospel for today

Christ and the Rich Young Man by Heinrich Hoffmann

Most had come to the rolling hills beyond the Jordan because of the miracles: the crippled walking, the dead raised, the demons cast out. Who wouldn’t take an afternoon hike to witness such amazing things? They came with their blankets and lunch baskets. They came to see.

But today, Jesus is not about miracles. He is about teaching. And it is hard to listen to him. The words are gentle but incisive. Like small scalpels, they deftly strip away the listeners’ harbored illusions. He says things like this:

  • Become humble like a child.
  • The last will be first and the first last.
  • If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off.
  • Forgive seventy times seven.

His words challenge everything they had learned, believed, based their lives on! Nobody got anywhere in life by behaving the way he described! Jesus can see their consternation. What they had relied on – all that had justified their self-satisfied successes – lay now at his feet like a sculptor’s remnants. 

Jesus pauses to allow a long silence to envelop their startled hearts. Quietly, he retires to a shaded grove to let his own heart settle. On the hillside, it is lunchtime. The large crowd bundles into small neighborly bands. They open their baskets and uncork their water-skins while the curative words begin the hard transformation of their souls.

But one man is not hungry – at least not for earthly food.  He slowly approaches Jesus in his solitude, perhaps with a shy glance that asks, “May I come closer?” Jesus nods for the young man to join him. Settling beside Jesus, he asks, “Master, what must I do to gain eternal life?”

There is no lack of directness in this man. He comes bluntly to the point. But there is, nonetheless, a blindness in him. Jesus has already taken its measure even as the young man approached. His garments distinguish him from the rest of the crowd.  His robe is fine linen not rude camel hair. He is not unshod, but rather wears sandals of expertly tooled leather. He carries no basket; it is held by a servant standing off at a modest but ready distance. He is so accustomed to his privilege that he is unaware of his difference from all those who surround him. He no longer sees his wealth, just as he no longer sees their poverty. 

Commemorative Cross for the 150th Anniversary of the Philadelphia Sisters of Mercy,
featuring the Works of Mercy. Designed by the late Robert McGovern

Jesus at once pities his obliviousness yet loves his sincerity. He tests the young man even though he already reads his heart. The questions are not intended to derail the man. Instead, Jesus leads him by a rabbinical path through the levels of spiritual commitment.

  • Do you understand true goodness?
  • Do you then keep the commandments?
  • Do you then seek perfection?
  • Will you then give everything you have to embrace it?

At this final question, the young man goes away sad, “for he had many possessions”. 

Here Jesus defines for us the ultimate sticking point for a nearly committed person: “All you possess”. In other words, can we give everything in Christlike love?

The Christian ethic teaches us that this kind of self-donation is the only path to joy and salvation. Yet, it is a perfection few achieve. This failure in achievement leads to broken marriages, fractured families, rescinded vows and unfulfilled hopes. What is the secret to meeting its challenge?

Jesus may have given an answer two chapters earlier in Matthew’s Gospel. A desperate father has brought his possessed son to the disciples, but they are unable to cast out the demon.  Jesus is frustrated with their impotence, saying, “How long must I be with you (before you learn)?” What is it that these disciples have yet to learn? Jesus goes on to tell them that if their faith were even the size of a tiny mustard seed, they would have the power, not only to cast out this demon, but to move mountains.

To live fully by faith is to live in the understanding that we possess nothing.  Everything we think we have, including life itself, is a pure gift of God’s mercy to us. Abandonment to such understanding makes us truly rich and renders us divinely powerful. This is the continuing lesson Jesus is teaching his beloved disciples. This is the secret of eternal life to which Jesus tries to lead the rich young man. This is the daily invitation God places before us within the circumstances of our lives. Will we embrace it or will we go away sad?

Music: Do It All for Love – Sigala

Do or Do Not

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality1 Comment

Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

August 19, 2019

Click here for readings

Today, in Mercy, our readings are about possessions – in every sense of that word.

In today’s reading from Judges, the first of a few this week, we see Israel in the years between entering the Promised Land to the rise of Saul as king. During these four hundred years, a series of judges tries to keep Israel on track with God. It is a frustrating assignment!

As today’s passage describes, the Israelites get caught in an endlessly repeating cycle:

  • worship false gods
  • get zapped by true God
  • feel really bad, say sorry
  • be forgiven
  • repeat cycle

Hmm! I’ve seen this pattern somewhere before. Oh, yeah! It’s just like the one describing all my good intentions that never quite materialized!

do or do not

Many of us can identify with the rich young man in the Gospel. We want to take our relationship with God up a notch. We would like to be better, holier people. But we may also, like the young man, like the ancient Israelites, be caught in a cycle of behaviors and choices which inhibit us.

Mt19_22many possessions

Jesus tells this young man to get rid of his possessions, freeing him to really follow Jesus.

What possesses us, holding us back from that radical following? 

It is not always material goods. They are easy to identify and dispatch. It is our tightly held and hidden illusions, resentments, prejudices, assumptions, entitlements, fears, jealousies, disappointments, angers. These are the heavy chains that cling to us as we try to move deeper into God.

May we be inspired by Matthew’s young man to recognize and break through the cycles that bind us by hearing God’s invitation to wholeness – an invitation always deep within our life circumstances.

Music: Out of the Deep – Julie Bernstein

Wisdom and Love

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality1 Comment

Sunday, October 14, 2018

       Readings:  Click here.

Today in Mercy, our readings are both beautiful and poignant.  

In our first passage, we drink from Wisdom’s sweet nectar. This book, written about fifty years before Christ’s birth, is the work of an unnamed Jewish poet and scholar. At points, as in today’s segment, the writer assumes the persona of Solomon, speaking in his name.

Ps90_fill us

We know from the Book of Kings, chapter 3, that Solomon, as a young king, led a faithful and righteous life. Because of this, God offered Solomon “whatever you want me to give you.”

Think of the possibilities for this young man, just on the cusp of kingship! Power, wealth, longevity, peace, prosperity, political dominance – all the things we are inclined to covet in this world.

But Solomon prays instead for wisdom, as described in today’s reading:

Beyond health and comeliness I loved her,
and I chose to have her rather than the light,
because the splendor of her never yields to sleep.

Our Gospel tells of a young man offered an opportunity similar to Solomon’s. Already living a faithful life, he wants to go deeper into God’s heart. 

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,

“You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven;
then come, follow me.” 

But this young man, unlike Solomon, cannot accept the invitation to this deep place of love and devotion. Instead, he goes away sad. It makes me sad, too, whenever I read these verses. I always hope that, after a few steps, he turned around and shouted, “Yes! I will do what you ask. I love God that much. Help me!”

Like these young men,we have a deep desire to live within God’s love. But are we walking toward that love or away from it? Most of us don’t say an outright “No” to God’s invitation. Instead, we are distracted, lazy, or just not paying attention to the the whispers of grace.

Let’s pray today’s powerful Psalm 90 to open our minds and hearts to God’s hope for us.

Music: Fill Us With Your Love ~Ephrem Feeley