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.

Seeing and Hearing God Walking in our Midst

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, a priest  who, in the Auschwitz concentration camp asked that he be taken to the starvation room in place of a man who had a wife and two children.  His request was granted.   In light of the first reading of today’s liturgy, Ez 12:1-12, Maximilian, unlike the chosen people, had eyes that saw and ears that heard the Lord’s invitation to give of his all,  to act with justice, to love tenderly and walk humbly with his God (Micah 6:8).   In his willingness to give his life for another, Maximilian also was granted the grace to forgive the Nazis who imprisoned him along with millions of other Jews. Nothing, in the words of St. Paul, came between Maximilian and the love of Christ (Rom 8:39).

Today we have millions enduring the martyrdom, not of the concentration camps run by the Nazis but  of those run by other ruthless persons. Millions are being silenced by others in various ways by being  deprived of justice, denied their integrity as persons, treated poorly and abusively. Some are being stoned to death for alleged crimes while others are being victimized by the corrupt use of emotional, psychological, political, ecclesial, intellectual powers.  Many are being “martyred” as slaves of pimps, human traffickers, drug traffickers, unjust employers and so on.   Yes, we  live “in the midst of a rebellious house; they have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear…”  God’s call for justice, truth, reconciliation, forgiveness and love frequently falls on deaf ears and hardened hearts.

What part of me could be described as rebellious? What part of me, like Ezekiel, sees and hears God walking in our midst?  In what ways am I willing, as Maximilian was, to give my life that another can live? Am I willing to give up gossiping about another, judging others, judging myself, criticizing others, putting others and self down? Am I willing to forgive others and forgive myself, not once, but in the words of today’s Gospel, 70xs 7 times?

Holding Nothing Back from God

In today’s first reading, 1 Samuel 15: 16-23, Samuel asked Saul, “Does the Lord so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the Lord?”  Saul, the first king of Israel, had  been asked “ to exterminate all of the Amalekites, including their king, and that none of the plunder would be taken for personal use”  (The Word Among Us, Daily Meditations for January 2014, 7115 Guilford Dr Ste 100, Frederick , MD 21704-5234). However, Saul, following his defeat of the Amalekites, takes some of the spoil, the best of the herds and sacrifices them to the Lord. He also spares the King. He is not totally obedient. He follows part of God’s will and part of his own will.    This is not what the Lord wanted. He wanted total obedience from Saul.  Saul’s lacked the humility of surrendering his will completely to the will of a Higher Power, to the One who saves us from our enemies.  In a sense, he was glorifying himself, not God, taking pride in the sacrifices he chose to give God.

It is so easy to be worshipping the service we offer the Lord and not be worshipping God alone.  God wants our humble obedience; he wants our all, not just a portion of our giving.  Jesus, the Word of God, God’s only begotten Son, obeyed the Father in all things, first leaving the glory of heaven and taking on human nature and then offering His life on the cross for the salvation of humankind: humility to follow the will of another and obedience in responding totally. Jesus held nothing back for personal gain.  What about me? What about you?