We have given up everything and followed you

28 MAY (Mk 10,28-31)

In Ancient Scripture only for the observance of the Commandments, the Lord filled with his people every blessing. Every good was the fruit of obedience of man to his God and Lord. Man was faithful to the Covenant and God enriched him beyond measure.

“Thus, then, shall it be: if you continue to heed the voice of the Lord, your God, and are careful to observe all his commandments which I enjoin on you today, the Lord, your God, will raise you high above all the nations of the earth. When you hearken to the voice of the Lord, your God, all these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you: “May you be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country! “Blessed be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil and the offspring of your livestock, the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks! “Blessed be your grain bin and your kneading bowl! “May you be blessed in your coming in, and blessed in your going out! “The Lord will beat down before you the enemies that rise up against you; though they come out against you from but one direction, they will flee before you in seven. The Lord will affirm his blessing upon you, on your barns and on all your undertakings, blessing you in the land that the Lord, your God, gives you.

Provided that you keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, and walk in his ways, he will establish you as a people sacred to himself, as he swore to you; so that, when all the nations of the earth see you bearing the name of the Lord, they will stand in awe of you. The Lord will increase in more than goodly measure the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil, in the land which he swore to your fathers he would give you. The Lord will open up for you his rich treasure house of the heavens, to give your land rain in due season, blessing all your undertakings, so that you will lend to many nations and borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail, and you will always mount higher and not decline, as long as you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I order you today to observe carefully; not turning aside to the right or to the left from any of the commandments which I now give you, in order to follow other gods and serve them. (Dt 28,1-14).

With Peter and the other disciples of the Lord unheard of, unique thing took place. Not only do they keep the Commandments of their Lord and God, they abandoned and stripped themselves of everything for him. They possess nothing any more. Nothing is their property any more. They placed their lives entirely in the hands of God. Certainly there will be eternal bliss for them. They are not like the rich young man.

The answer of Jesus reassures Peter and every other one of his disciples who will come in over the centuries. The heavenly Father will not only give them the everlasting inheritance, a place in the highest heaven, after their death. On this earth, he will give them one hundred times what they have left. This affirmation of Jesus certainly must not be taken literally, but according to the truth of the Holy Spirit. The heavenly Father will give so much life on earth to the disciples of Jesus as if they had a hundred wives, a hundred fathers, a hundred mothers, a hundred brothers, a hundred sisters, a hundred fields and la hundred other countless things. Their hearts will be so full of peace and joy as to not need any of these things, because in it the Lord reigns with all his paradise and the heavenly court.

Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. But many that are first will be last, and (the) last will be first.”

St. Paul declared, “We apostles have nothing yet possess all things.” We have God with all his heavenly wealth and we can make many rich. This vision of faith today is lacking in many disciples of the Lord. This is attested by their anxiety for the things of this world. This is revealed by their always restless hearts. It is witnessed by their veiled and hypocritical simony with which they deal with holy things. Judah fell from this faith and for thirty miserable pieces of silver he sold his Master to the Jews.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us with a pure, true and holy faith.