Monday in the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time, August 16, 2021

Matthew 19:16-22

A young man approached Jesus and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Sometimes when I think about eternal life, an incident in my childhood comes to mind.  As a kindergartner I had to walk up a tall hill to get to school, an annex to a Methodist church.  While the front of the school faced the street, the back overlooked a forest that started halfway down the hill.  A stream ran through it.  In those days, five year-olds walked to school by themselves all the time and no one thought anything about it.  Once, I walked to school and I decided to go behind the church/school building to have a look at the woods.  I found a good spot and stared into the mystery of all those trees, and the scanty little path that went into their midst.  I stared, fascinated, for a long time.  I knew I should go into the school, but I felt such pleasure looking into the woods that I could not tear myself away.  The beauty and the wonder held me fast.  Finally, I was able to come to my senses and go into the school (I need not have bothered as I got into trouble for being an hour and a half late).  Such awe fills the saints and the angels in the presence of Almighty God that they cannot look away, nor do they need to, ever.  Absolute bliss courses through them as they gaze upon the One whom St. Augustine called, “Beauty ever ancient, Beauty ever new”, and whom Dante called, “the Love that moves the sun and the other stars”.  

“If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  The giving up of one’s temporal goods and even of one’s own life is not too much to pay in return for this eternal life.  Few of our goods last very long anyway, and our lives are tiny things in comparison with eternity: “Our years come to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are threescore and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away” (Psalm 90, 10).  But the momentary glitter of our things and of our complacency distracts us.  Our moments seem to linger even as our years flee from us.  “When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.”  We read this and think, What a chance this man has chucked away!  But, really, how many of us would do any differently than he did, were we in his shoes at that moment?  St. Matthew, recalling this meeting years later, particularly remembered that the young man went away “sad”.  The Greek word is stronger:“grieved”, “pained”, “vexed”.  He was not simply sad but grief-stricken.  He weighed heaven and earth and knew that eternal life with God was the right choice, but he would not abandon his baubles.