A rainy (a supposition, not a fact – it was rainy for most of October, and I’m guessing this was no exception) Wednesday evening in October the Catholic Student Group met in the priest’s living room for a lecture with our priest, father Al.
Having just finished Mass, we gathered some tea and my guess work tells me there was snacks of some kind – fruits? cake?
My memory serves me poorly on the details. Luckily I my notes tell me that we were joined by three new faces – Vanessa, who’s French, Simoneé and another Andrea. We are blessed with so many Andreas this semester I have lost track of their last names – but I do remember that this Andrea is a scout!
St. Mark. Picture from Wikipedia Commons
Father Al had prepared a lecture for us regarding the gospel reading from the last Sunday: when Jesus met the young rich man. Read this, property of Mark:
17As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” 20He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Father put us into four groups and asked us to discuss the text. He asked us to think about where our heart was: what is our greatest treasure? We answered the questions in the groups, and then shared them with everyone. It took some good thinking to figure it out. Also, what we thought was the right answer wasn’t necessarily the truth for our lives, our actions and our thoughts.
He also asked us to consider what would happen to us if we lost our treasure. We had a hard time picturing this, as we so often fail to see that our greatest treasure is God, and get confused by our constant want for iphones and bigger, better and more things.
I want to take the time to remind us all of the next passage in Mark’s gospel. The previous passage can be a bit demotivating. The young man says he follows the commandments, and Jesus says it’s still not enough. How many of us can say they’ve never broken a commandment? Who is free of sin? Luckily Jesus reminds us:
23Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
We are not accepted in the kingdom of God by our own strength or cabability, but by the grace of God.
Some of the students said they considered themselves pilgrims, that we’re always on a path. It’s important to never stop trying, to never consider yourself perfect, that there’s no room for improvement – but to also remember that God is with you in every one of those steps. In your trials, your victories, your sin – God is there.
I think the lecture definetely raised some questions in our minds, about the way we lead our lives and what we consider our treasures. Thank you very much, Father Al!
