28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Sunday 11th October 2015)
Let nothing hold you back from following God – (Mark 10:17-30)
So often in life we are challenged to make decisions. Sometimes, the questions come unexpectedly, like being offered drugs on a night out or being offered stolen goods. It might be a colleague or friend offering, and we might feel pressured to accept without being allowed to think about it. At other moments in our life we are offered both the time and the space to make a decision, like the subjects you have to choose in secondary school, or if you want to go to college?
Whether we are prepared or not, our decisions today will shape how our life is in the future. Who do we consult? Will our decision give us a fleeting pleasure or lasting joy into the days and years ahead?
In this Sunday’s Gospel, the young man comes running up to Jesus, just as Jesus is setting off on a journey. Clearly, Jesus takes young people with a great deal of care as he is not annoyed and stops to chat with him. The young man has realized there is something unique about Jesus and puts to him the most fundamental question, of eternal life or friendship with God forever.
The young man has kept the commandments, however something is holding him back from fully encountering the love of God. Jesus does not get angry or annoyed or give out to the young man. Instead, he looks at him and loves him. This love is a perfect love. Jesus offered himself without any holding back on the cross, a complete self-sacrifice.
When we look at this self-sacrificing love, we realize the places in our own lives, where we are holding back, not giving fully to God. This can be an area of sin, or of attachment to worldly things or of self-obsession. If our lives are full of distractions, and if we are moving so fast that we cannot hear God and leave no room for the One who loves us, then we will miss the greatest guide of all. The next time you have to make a decision spend some time in conversation with Jesus and ask the Lord of love for some guidance.
Maybe today, you are thinking of religious life, of becoming a monk, or a priest or a nun. Go for it, the adventure is never boring. Unlike the young man who went away sad, Jesus comes that we may have life to the full. Let nothing, not riches nor worry nor fear hold you back. Or maybe you have a calling to offer yourself completely to another person in marriage, this too takes great sacrificial love. If the Lord is calling you, go for it!
Fr. Robert McGivney