Monday, May 25, 2015

The Challenge of Total Discipleship

"Lord, open my mind to know you, my heart to love you and my will to follow you," is my prayer this morning as I reflect on the Gospel of today's liturgy, Mark 10: 17-27.  A young man excitedly approaches Jesus and says: "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus reminds him of the commandments, which the young man, in turn, says he has observed all of his life. Then Jesus says 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." The man's face falls in sadness and he walks away. In his mind Jesus is asking too much; he is not ready to take that next step of unmistakable discipleship.

What is it that keeps  us from growing more deeply in our surrender to God's will as it manifests itself in our marriages, in community life, in our priesthood, brotherhood, sisterhood, in our vocation to the single life? What is that something that gets in our way of committing ourselves to being more faith-filled, trustworthy  disciples of Jesus? What blinds us and deafens us to the call to be more loving, forgiving, understanding, compassionate,self-giving?   What draws us away from working for a just society where all men and women, all races and cultures are treated with respect and where each person's human dignity matters?


What is that "one thing" we are lacking?  Open our minds, Lord, to the answer the Spirit is ready to give us as we ponder that question!


And let us, today, salute those men and women who have given their all in defense of this country and those who have returned from service physically handicapped and struggling with PTSD, depression and suicidal tendencies as the result of the trauma of active duty in war zones: being shot at, killing other human beings, dodging land mines and bullets, seeing their buddies/comrades killed, and witnessing the atrocities of war beyond the understanding of those of us spared such misery.

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