You are lacking in one thing

Sir 17,20-28; Ps 31; Mk 10,17-27
4 MARCH

To the man who asks him what he must do to have eternal life, Jesus, after having received reassurance that the Commandments were all observed, says: “You are missing one thing”. If we asked him such a question today, He would not tell us that we lack only one thing. He would make an interminable list of things that we lack. We lack the truth of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit, of the Church, of the sacraments, of eternity, of time, of the end of our life, of our every little or big responsibility and of things. Lacking knowledge of the truth, we also lack knowledge of morality. We are really in a bad situation. Where must we start from? From where the Heavenly Father began: from the truth of Christ Jesus. Either we put the truth of our Redeemer and Saviour back at the centre of the universe, or we are condemned to an eternal falsehood. Unfortunately, the truth of Christ is similar to a castle. There are those who with the picks of their human thoughts, with the dynamite of their heresies, with the path of their lies, stone by stone, wall by wall, are causing the whole castle to be reduced to a pile of rubble. There is a worse ruin than the temple of Jerusalem! At least some stones remained in its destruction. On the castle of the mystery of Christ there are not even stones, but only suffocating dust. Christ is being destroyed out of love for man, out of respect for him and out of mercy towards the brothers. Thus man is deprived of life out of love. Spiritual euthanasia, or rather Christ-like euthanasia! It is urgent to react to this continuous demolition. Everyone is called to put his share. Christ must be confessed in fullness of truth.

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honour your father and your mother.'” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” 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.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through (the) eye of (a) needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”

Who is the rich man, for whom it becomes difficult to enter the kingdom of heaven? Rich is the man who has closed, imprisoned and packed his life in himself, without any openness to transcendence, to revealed truth, to the will of God to be fulfilled today to be a true man in the image and likeness of his Creator. Rich is the man who trusts in the things of the earth and refuses to obey the Command of his God. When God is rejected, there is no salvation, because salvation is our home in the divine will. How can I save myself if I refuse the source of salvation? Furthermore, it must be added that when we refuse God’s offer to follow the things of the earth, it is a sign that these have already conquered our hearts. A heart governed by things will never be able to free itself from them. Little by little they will suffocate him until his total death. The things of the world are tyrants, torturers, hard and demanding masters. They even suck the breath of man. They cancel thoughts. The mind is darkened. Who falls into their hands, forgets about God, heaven and eternity. Their slavery produces these fruits. Might there be salvation in a state of death of the soul and the spirit? Salvation can only come from the outside. The Holy Spirit will have to act as with Saul on the road to Damascus. He will have to enlighten him with his most powerful light, make him fall to the ground, be collected and led into the Church for a full immersion in grace.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, do not let the things of the world make us slaves.