Twenty Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Mk 10:17-30). “What About Bob?”
Homily- Twenty Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Mk 10:17-30). “What About Bob?”
“Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou have given all to me. To Thee, I return it. All that is Thine, dispose of it according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and the grace, for this is sufficient for me.”
The prayer I just shared is the prayer of St. Ignatius Loyola. The prayer is known as the sus-ci-pe. We might argue that it is one of the most radical prayers of abandonment ever uttered. We might also say that it was the challenge that the man in the Gospel was confronted with when he interacted with Jesus.
What the prayer represents is part of the spirituality of St. Ignatius Loyola which he drew from studying the teachings of Jesus. Ignatius cultivated within himself the quality of holy indifference. As he puts it in his spiritual exercises, “Consequently, on my own part, I ought not to seek health rather than sickness, wealth rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, a long life rather than a short one, and so on in other matters.”
Such a stance doesn’t mean that we don’t care about life, but it does mean that we cultivate an attitude of meekness. Meekness means that we care about justice for others, but we don’t seek power, riches, glory, or health for ourselves. If we can live this way, Ignatius would say we will live in the Kingdom of Jesus now. We will find peace in our life.
But is that what Jesus’ instruction to the wealthy man was about? What was the motivation of the man who comes to Jesus asking questions? He was obviously a good businessman in that he had acquired a lot of wealth. But his wealth had not satisfied him. He wanted to know that after his life on earth he was going to make it to heaven. With that knowledge, he believed he would feel secure. We can all fall into that same trap. We would like validation for how we are living our life.
The frustration that many of us have with following Jesus is that he seldom seems to ratify how we live our lives. He asks if we can do more. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5), there are a whole series of sayings that challenge the listener. Jesus says, “You have heard it said, you shall not commit murder……What I say……everyone who grows angry with his brother is liable to judgement.” Jesus says, “You have heard it said, do not commit adultery.……what I say is that anyone who looks lustfully at another has committed adultery.” Jesus says, “You have heard it said, an eye for an eye…what I say is …...whenever someone strikes you on one cheek you should turn and offer them the other.” Jesus always prods his followers to go above and beyond. Satisfaction in our spiritual life comes not by arriving at holiness but valuing it and striving for it out of love for God.
One key point that is often missed in this Gospel, is that Jesus says, “Sell what you have and give it to the poor.” If we follow Jesus, we don’t cry poor, we are concerned that others are poor no matter what our financial situation is.
I remember reading about a man in the newspaper once who tried to live out the challenge Jesus presents to us today. The man’s name was Bob. He was a retired single man. He lived in a modest home in an inner-city neighborhood. He was a retired blue-collar worker. He went to daily Mass. Every day he would roam his neighborhood scavenging for aluminum, paper, steel, things that people had thrown away. He would be seen pulling a wagon around the city. He would travel to the junk yard at the end of the day to sell what he collected. Bob would take the proceeds and give it to charity. One day it would be the food pantry. The next it would be the Salvation Army. The next day it would be a donation to his church. He sold what he had and gave it to the poor.
People were amused by the way Bob lived his life. Some mistook him to be a homeless person though he wasn’t. Many people thought he was crazy. But Bob seemed happy. He did not tell the charities who he had given his donations to, or how the money should be spent. He simply gave the money away. Bob took care of his basic needs. He didn’t go without. But his main concern was that others didn’t go without. His witness made others uncomfortable, but that was not his worry. His desire was to live in the Kingdom of Jesus today and tomorrow.
We are all challenged by Jesus to live with holy indifference so we can care for the poor. The beautiful thing is that Jesus will love us if we succeed or if we fail. Jesus only asks that we take his challenge to live the Gospel seriously.
Reflection Questions:
- What teaching of Jesus makes me most uncomfortable? What do I do about that teaching?Was Bob’s life a waste? Do I think he was crazy or holy?
Dear Parishioner,
Starting this Sunday, we will be having a parish mission revolving around the Eucharist. Fr. Britto is an old friend of mine. We ministered together at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign. When I met Fr. Britto he belonged to the Salesian order. He received a doctorate in communications from the U. of I. He then taught in Rome for five years. After that he left the Salesians because he wanted to be a parish priest. He affiliated with the Chicago Arch Diocese. He has taught courses at Loyola and Mundelein in preaching and speech.
Fr. Britto has preached missions all over the country and around the world. He is on the radio in Chicago regularly. His background in communications gives him a unique perspective on the media and how it touches our lives. He is an entertaining presenter.
I hope that everyone can come to the mission. If you cannot be present all three nights, you can still gain a lot from coming one or two nights. This is a unique time to reflect on the Eucharist given that it has been a challenge to gather for worship.
May Our Lady and all the angels and saints be with you this week.
Fr. Mark