What Good Must I Do? (2015-10-11)

11 October 2015 /   28^th Sunday, Year B

● Wisdom 7:7-11 ●  ● Psalm 90 ● Hebrews 4:12-13 ● Mark 10:17-30

[__01__] When I was a senior in college, I had the opportunity to be a reporter for our weekly college newspaper.

I covered one of our two soccer teams, the men’s team. I seem to recall that there was absolutely no competition to be the reporter covering for the soccer team… the sports editors took care of the football team. I also wrote about squash later that year.

I would attend the games, take notes, interview the players and the coach and write an article once a week.

In this assignment, I received a great INTRODUCTION to the work of a reporter, of a writer. I was just being introduced, but still learning something about:

·       ___Writing for a deadline

·       ___Taking criticism

·       ___  Interviewing and asking questions, how to ask questions.

It was an INTRODUCTION …

Yet, I felt valued as a contributor to the team and to our college by this writing assignment.  One of the coaches also emphasized to me the value of these articles to the student body in general. That is, more of us --- the students – would be motivated to come out and support our classmates, based on what we read in the newspaper.

That’s the good news about my experience, a lesson of teamwork of contribution to a larger cause and a corporate effort.

We read in the Book of Ecclesiastes about the strength of a team …

“a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him — a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”  (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

And in the book of Psalms about elevating ourselves above our own agendas…

“when my heart is faint, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”  Psalm 61:2)

I was also grateful to part of the team.

That’s the GOOD NEWS.

However, this was not my objective, my college senior-year strategy.

I had hoped to play on this particular soccer team and had been practicing by playing on a lower-level team during my sophomore year and on another team during my junior year.

Yet, I knew that this team was different and more would be expected … training camp was difficult.

It was the first time in my life …though not the last … that I would use Ben-Gay cream on my lower extremities for relief of the muscle ache and pain. I did not miss any practices.

Pushing myself, I was asking, “what good must I do to make this team?”

It was, in a sense, a renunciation.

What can I give up, sacrifice to be on this team?

I was disappointed to learn that I was not going to make the team. Yet, I was also able to see – through my new experience as a reporter – that I had a contribution to make.

I was called to renounce something – that is my desire to be part of the team … to give up something, in order to be part of the team in a different way.

[__02__]  “Practice” and the importance of practice and perseverance are also the responses to the question of the rich young man, the rich young ruler in the Gospel of Mark this Sunday.

The young man had approached Jesus and asked for directions.

This request – this question – about directions has both a spiritual and geographic theme.

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

Or, we might say, “how do I reach? How do I get to heaven?”

The answer of Jesus gives the young man and you and me a challenge.

The practice of our faith also invites us not only to confinement to something solitary … such as…

·       Give me strength to make the soccer team, play midfield, preferably on the right …

·       Give me the strength to attain a particular grade, GPA, or salary.

·       Give me time alone in solitude.

They are certainly acceptable petitions. However, sometimes, what we are praying for or asking for is not the CONSTANCY or the STEADFASTNESS of God …but rather the CONSTANCY or PERMANENCE of our own plans.

God, please don’t change anything.

And, the rich young man – we might say – had a plan to which he presumed was acceptable. The rich young man might be similar to an author trying to get a book into Barnes and Noble or on AMAZON.COM. I wrote the manuscript…I just need a publisher.

The practice of our faith, however, is not based only on what I can achieve or accomplish …or what I have done…or what I have saved on my hard drive.

We might even say that the practice of any true commitment is not limited by my desire or design.

_____One remains mother or father to one’s children …. Even if they have grown..even if we have had the painful tragedy of their death.

And, isn’t marriage also based on a trust and confidence in the other person whether we are together or apart?

____The practice of a faithful commitment is not limited to places or studios or workshops or training camps.

_____And, this involves … as Jesus says … both our YES to him and our NO …our renunciation to things or people which take us away from him.

  _____ [__03__] The young man walks away, does he not? He is not ready to renounce, to sell all that he has.

[__04_]   I would suggest, however, that our lives as Christians are full of renunciations. That is, on a daily basis, in small ways, we are following Jesus’s command.

This is NOT easy.

But, for example, consider the renunciations some of us are called to make. We may have succeeded and responded in a way different from the rich young man of the Gospel.

[__04.01__] 

FORGIVENESS/MERCY: if someone were to wrong me, to do me wrong, can I forgive? Can I forgive not only for the other person’s well-being but also for my own?

Can I sell all that I have? 

[__05__] Are there not also many situations in which we are called to TRUST others, to trust the judgment of others?

For young people, for all of us living under the watch and guard of our parents / families, we are called to trust them, their guidance, their rules and to respond generously.

Doing so, we say “I love  you” by renouncing our own agenda …and we sell all that we have.

The first letter of St. John reminds us that the more we love, the less reason we have to be afraid:

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1 John 4:18)

[__06_-@OUR LADY OF LOURDES_]   This Sunday – this month of October – we are also gather in a special way to pray for priests, the vocation of the Catholic priesthood and give thanks for the priests we have been edified by in our lives.

This Sunday – after 11:30 am Mass in Connor Hall – all are welcome to the special video presentation about the life and contributions of our beloved pastor, Monsignor Joe Petrillo, to Our Lady of Lourdes and to all of us as individuals, as families, and as priests of the parish.

In Monsignor Joe, we also see his example, his readiness and ability to renounce everything to serve us, to mourn with us, to celebrate with us for over thirteen years.

 [__08__] In today’s Gospel, this particular man at this particular moment will NOT “sell all that he has”. He will not give up everything.

Yet, we also do not know, for certain, his future.

Jesus is teaching us that our discipleship is not defined only by what we receive but also by what we are willing to give up, to practice.

Jesus does not / did not require all of his disciples – then or now – to “sell all that they have” …to liquidate all of their assets .. Yet, he is reminding us that whenever we make a commitment, we are giving something way and he invites us to consider what we are gaining – and what we might gain – in return.   [__fin__]