Today's Gospel Reading - Sunday, October 14, 2012 with Reflection

1^ST READING - Wisdom 7:7-11

P S A L M - Psalm 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17

R: Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!

12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. 13 Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! (R) 14Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. 15 Make us glad, for the days when you afflicted us, for the years when we saw evil. (R) 16 Let your work be seen by your servants and your glory by their children; 17 and may the gracious care of the Lord our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands! (R)

2^ND READING - Hebrews 4:12-13

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Mark 10:17-30

17 As Jesus 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?” 18 Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 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; honor your father and your mother.’ ” 20 He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” 21 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.” 22 At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. 23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 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! 25 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.” 26 They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.” 28 Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.” 29 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 30 wh o 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.”

SABBATH

IS JESUS “BAD” ENOUGH FOR YOU? From today’s Gospel, we notice that here was one basically good guy (“I have kept all these commandments ever since...”), and yet he blew it all — his chance to share in the everlasting life promised by Jesus. But even then, on the part of Jesus, there was no love lost. He doesn’t force anyone anyway. And He will not dilute His demands just to accommodate us or so as not to lose us. As the Jesuit priest-educator James DiGiacomo puts it, “Jesus is organizing a field trip through the narrow gate and He’s not after numbers. Quality or commitment is the name of the game, not quantity or ‘do-goodiness’” (Morality and Youth: Fostering Christian Identity). In fact, the question is not whether Jesus is good enough for you, or whether He is pleasing and charismatic enough for you to follow Him. Rather, it is whether Jesus is bad enough — yes, bad enough with His radical demands, bad enough to propose far more than a sugarcoated or “lollipop” Christianity (one that is concerned more with making you feel good and bereft of challenges and trials). Face-to-face with such a make-or-break choice, we can’t help but identify with the prayer in our First Reading from the Book of Wisdom: “I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the Spirit of wisdom came to me.” Truly, it is in prayer where we recognize and hear best God’s voice, where we discern His will. Knowing God’s will and fulfilling it, knowing Jesus and following Him — this is no walk in the park. Nobody said it would be easy in the first place. Difficult and challenging as it is, it is nevertheless possible. “With God all things are possible.” Notice: “With God.” That’s it — the will of God, not our own. He’s the one at the driver’s seat, not us. It will surely be a bumpy, risky ride, but still we’ll be in good hands. And hopefully we won’t back out and refuse to ride. Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Recall your own faith journey. What have been your struggles and triumphs? Can you honestly say it’s been worth the journey? Lord Jesus, following You isn’t easy, but I believe and trust that You will not leave me as I encounter difficulties in doing so. St. Callistus I, pope and  martyr, pray for us. Do you want to receive this in your email? To get Bo Sanchez to send it to you personally, log-on to http://kerygmafamily.com. Lots of surprises await.