As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, ... "You know the commandments: ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.’” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said 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.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. 

"There's some things we don't talk about, rather do without and just hold the smile, falling in and out of love, ashamed and proud of, together all the while. You can never say never when we don't know why, time and time again, younger now than we were before. Don't let me go. We're pulling apart and coming together again and again; we're growing apart but we pull it together again."   

Sometimes things do not go the way we want. We want to hold things together better. Even if we have had a good life, we look around for something that can help us more. The rich man of Mark’s Gospel seemed to have had a good life. He was probably from one of the families who owned land and had reason to feel good about who he was. He had kept the commandments of Moses, and must have been a good person, because Jesus “loved him,” as the Gospel says. But he had some questions about the eternal life that Jesus was presenting, and so he asked about it. And when Jesus pointed out what he had to do further, he “went away sad” because he did not want to give up what he had.

The Fray's song "Never Say Never" is about holding a couple together. They sing of a love situation that is on and then off and then on again. As one analyzes why they have such a situation, simply put, they did not want to do what had to be done. They did not want to talk about some things that they should have been talking about. The song presents a common enough situation in life: we know that there is something missing, and we even have an idea of what it is. We simply do not want to do anything about it because we would have to give up too much to accomplish it.

The rich man in Mark's Gospel did not want to give up his possessions. The couple in The Fray's song did not want to go through the effort of talking to each other. The common thread in both situations is that they did not want to change what they were doing, even though it was the very thing that could "pull themselves together" better. When we study ourselves with the hope that things might be better than they are right now, the chances are that we will discover some areas that must change. People serious about living good lives will make those changes when they discover them.              

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, as your Son did here on earth, you look at us with love, and you also give us the grace to help us see what should change in our lives. May we use the grace that you give us, and choose to be better than we are. Be with us, we pray. 

Questions, comments? Let me know. Email Fr. Mike

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America