28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 10/10

Dear Friends,

The young man in today’s Gospel poses a very important question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”.

I believe that we all have a question for God - one, deeply personal and unique question that is specific to our hearts. “Is it all true?”, “What do I hope for?”, “Do you love me?”, “Am I beautiful?”, etc. I encourage you to take some time in prayer to really ponder, deep down: what is your question of God? 

Perhaps more importantly, are you ready to hear the answer? In today’s Gospel, the young man was disappointed in God’s response. - “he went away sad”. God doesn't always say what we want to hear. Perhaps today would be a good time to reflect on where our own personal stubbornness might be. What are we not happy to hear? What are we afraid that God will tell us? Or as a friend of mine once asked me, “What are you pretending not to know?” Flannery O’Connor has a sobering quote: “The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it”. 

And it’s okay if you’re not ready to hear His response yet! God is gentle and He knows you better than you know yourself. In time, and if you cooperate with grace, He will prepare you and reveal the truth to you. All we know about the young man today is that “he went away sad”. I certainly understand that response - the Christian life can be difficult! And some sacrifices are hard to make! But at the end of the day, we must say with St. Peter: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68 NAB). I’m not sure if the young men ever came back to Jesus - but let’s pray that even despite the difficulties, we always return to God - the source of eternal life.