Mother Church invites us to celebrate Sunday, October 13, 2024, as the twenty-eighth Sunday in ordinary time, year B. In the entrance antiphon, we pray: “If you, O Lord, laid bare our guilt, who could endure it? But you are forgiving, God of Israel. Amen.”
In the first reading, from the Book of Wisdom, King Solomon shows us that wisdom cannot be compared to worldly riches or anything men value a great deal. This wisdom is none other than God’s word awaiting fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who is God’s incarnate wisdom. This wisdom manifests itself in the Gospel reading from Mark in which Christ preaches renunciation of worldly goods as a way of gaining heavenly rewards. God’s infinite power operates to save us but we must give up whatever turns us away from Christ. In the second reading, the sacred writer of the Letter to the Hebrews tells us that if Christ is so worthy of our faith, then we have to be faithful to obtain the blessing that God gives to those who obey him. Where we have been faithful, Christ’s word saves, but if we have been unfaithful, it condemns. In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the courage to renounce whatever hinders us from following Christ, our Saviour.
First Reading: Wisdom 7: 7-11.
I prayed, and understanding was given me. I entreated, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me. I esteemed her more than sceptres and thrones; compared with her, I held riches as nothing. I reckoned no priceless stone to be her peer, for compared with her, all gold is a pinch of sand, and beside her silver ranks as mud. I loved her more than health or beauty, preferred her to the light, since her radiance never sleeps. In her company all good things came to me, at her hands riches not to be numbered.
Comment
Last Sunday, I gave a brief historical background to the Book of Wisdom, which is worth repeating. I mentioned that the Book of Wisdom was originally written in Greek and, as such, does not appear in the Hebrew Bible. Martin Luther and other Protestant Reformers of the 16th century followed the Jewish practice and excluded the Book of Wisdom from their own Bible, under the pretext that it was not divinely inspired. But the Latin Church, at the Council of Trent (1546) included the Book of Wisdom in its list of sacred canonical books, which the first Vatican Council endorsed in 1870. Even though the book does not mention King Solomon by name, it is usually attributed to him on account of his reputation for wisdom.
Historically, the Book of Wisdom is thought to have been the last book of the Old Testament to have been written. It was originally written in the Greek spoken in the cities of Lower Egypt after the conquest of that zone by Alexander the Great in the last third of the 4th century BC.
The Greek culture at the time of this book was so attractive that many Jews were beginning to abandon Jewish culture in favour of the Greek culture. So the sacred author’s main purpose is to warn the Jews that their culture has nothing to envy from the dominant Greek culture. He has a clear religious goal in mind, that is, to set wisdom in the context of the profound faith in the God of Israel, the one and only God. His faith leads him not only to praise wisdom as a virtue but to go beyond that and depict wisdom as a divine attribute. Moreover, he puts forward a religious interpretation of history as being the history of salvation and provides a clear overview of the history of the chosen people and their dealings with other peoples. With this, he calls on the Jewish people to be proud of their culture that is divinely inspired.
The Book of Wisdom is divided into three parts. Chapters 1 – 6 can be summarized as wisdom and man’s destiny. Chapters 7 – 9, from where our reading is taken, can be titled the nature and role of wisdom, and Chapters 10 – 19 can be called wisdom at work in history.
The passage selected for our meditation shows Solomon at prayer, pleading for wisdom. He puts wisdom above all else, before scepters and thrones, precious stones, gold and silver, health and beauty; even before the light of the sun. Because it was wisdom he asked for and not other things of the world, God added these things on top of his gift of wisdom. Here we are reminded of what our Lord says in the sermon on the mount when he exhorts us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and the rest will added on (Mt 6: 25-33).
A familiar theme in wisdom literature is the superiority of spiritual things over material goods. Having wisdom means that we let ourselves be guided by God, who holds human life in his hands. But wisdom also includes understanding the world around us. “The world and all that happens within it, including history and the fate of peoples,” Saint John Paul II tells us, “are realities to be observed, analyzed, and assessed with all the resources of reason, but with faith ever being present.”
Let us therefore pray for the wisdom to read our world and time with the eye of faith, especially these days in Cameroon which is besieged by senseless wars in the northwest, southwest, and northern regions of the land. We make our plea through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Second Reading: Hebrews 4: 12-13.
The word of God is something alive and active; it cuts like any double‑edged sword but more finely: it can slip through the place where the soul is divided from the spirit, or joints from the marrow; it can judge the secret emotions and thoughts. No created thing can hide from him; everything is uncovered and open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves.
Comment
We began our second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews last Sunday. It is therefore important that I recall what I said last Sunday to better help us understand more clearly what this letter is all about.
I mentioned that the Letter to the Hebrews is one of the New Testament’s most imposing and important books. It was written principally to show the superiority of Christianity over the Old Covenant. It focuses on the idea that Christ's priesthood and sacrifice are superior to those of the priests of old. The sacred author indicates that the Law of Moses is unable to save mankind which has fallen through Adam’s sin. Christ has therefore, through his cross, abolished and replaced the Old Law with the new Law of the Gospel, which is the law of grace and freedom. The sacred writer uses this teaching to encourage his readers to persevere in the faith despite the difficulties they may face in their Christian life. The Letter to the Hebrews is therefore a word of exhortation to steadfastness in faith, which is anchored on Jesus Christ in whom we believe.
The passage of this day’s meditation is from the second part of this Epistle. The sacred author is now clarifying what he means by the priesthood of Christ. The word of God, which he speaks about, is presented as an expression of God’s power: it is that active word which creates everything out of nothing (Gen 1:3ff). This living and active word of God is also seen in the New Testament and in its full and perfect form in Christ himself (Jn 1:1).
God’s word is razor sharp, able to cut through our innermost thoughts. It can expose inner motives and desires of our hearts. The depths of our hearts, our deepest thoughts, attitudes, and intentions, lie open to God’s all-seeing eye. That’s a frightening weapon. But, at the same time, it is consoling and life-giving, even if it also inspires fear in those who try to ignore it. In one of their documents, Dei Verbum 21 (The Word of God), the Fathers of the Church say that “In the sacred books, the Father, who is in heaven, comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks to them. And such is the force and power of the Word of God that it serves the Church as her support and vigor, and the children of the Church as strength for their faith, food for the soul, and a pure and lasting fount of spiritual life”.
Let us pray: “Lord, Jesus, you see everything we do – the good, the bad and the very ugly – but you continue to love us, as you loved the young man who failed to follow you in the Gospel of this day. You understand our human frailty and you forgive us our numerous trespasses. Teach us to know you more nearly and to follow you more closely so as to understand your will better and learn too to forgive our brothers and sisters whenever they trespass against us. Amen.”
Gospel acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Alleluia.”
Gospel: Mark 10: 17-30.
Jesus was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, “Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You must not kill; You must not commit adultery; You must not steal; You must not bring false witness; You must not defraud; Honour your father and mother.” And he said to him, “Master, I have kept all these from my earliest days.” Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him, and he said, “There is one thing you lack. Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, “My children,” he said to them, “how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” They were more astonished than ever. “In that case” they said to one another, “who can be saved?” Jesus gazed at them. “For men” he said, “it is impossible, but not for God: because everything is possible for God.” Peter took this up. “What about us?” he asked him. “We have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “I tell you solemnly, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, father, children or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not be repaid a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land – not without persecutions – now in this present time and, in the world to come, eternal life.”
Comment
In today’s Gospel, Saint Mark paints a vivid scene of Jesus’ encounter with a young man on the road to Jerusalem. Jesus and his disciples are about to set off on their way when the young man runs up and kneels before our Lord. “Good Teacher,” he says, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The Lord replies that he should follow the commandments as a sure path to salvation. The young man tells him that he has followed the commandments since he was a child. Jesus then looks at him, taking stock of the purity of his intentions and the potential for generosity within him. He looks at him with great affection and invites him to follow him by setting aside and forsaking all his earthly possessions.
This is the invitation that is also addressed to you and me. Christ is asking each of us to follow him, to walk in his path, and to stand by him, come rain, come shine. If we respond positively to Christ’s invitation we will be filled with peace and true joy. The Lord is giving the same advice to us that he gives the young man. “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
These words should have served as a cause for joy to the young man, instead, they make him sad. He is too attached to his worldly possessions and finds it difficult to detach himself from them to follow Jesus. When he goes away and Jesus tells his disciples how hard it is for the rich to inherit eternal life, the disciples are astonished because they have accepted the traditional Jewish morality which teaches that wealth is a sign of God’s favor. The disciples now wonder who can ever be saved then. The answer is that nobody can achieve salvation on the basis of human effort, for salvation comes solely from God’s power.
In a homily he gave in Boston, USA, on October 1, 1979, Saint John Paul II, commenting on the text of this Gospel, said, among other things: “The sadness of this young man makes us reflect. We could be tempted to think that many possessions, many of the goods of this world, can bring happiness. We see instead in the case of the young man in the Gospel that his many possessions had become an obstacle to accepting the call of Jesus to follow him. He was not ready to say ‘yes’ to Jesus, and ‘no’ to self, to say ‘yes’ to love and ‘no’ to escape. Real love is demanding.”
‘Come and follow me’ is Christ’s invitation to us to accompany him in his own ministry, to listen to his doctrine, and to imitate his way of life. Our challenge as Jesus’ followers is to be with him in the middle of the world, right where we are, right here in the city of Douala, with all its challenges.
What lesson do we take home from this Gospel message? We live in a society that measures success in terms of economic potential, a society that seems to reward the rich with more riches. Even those who already have continued to search for more, in most cases, through very unchristian means, like embezzling funds entrusted to our care – a common occurrence in our country at every level. This Gospel is asking us to pause and reflect on our ways of seeking riches. If we remain too attached to our earthly possessions, we may become possessed by our attachments. When this happens, we become like the young man who finds the price of following Jesus too heavy to bear. We must remember that all material possessions come from God, who can take them away at any time, even when we are getting ready to enjoy our wealth, like the other foolish young man, the rich fool, who, seeing how wealthy he had become, told himself to eat, drink and be merry for years to come, but God called him to himself that same night (Lk 12: 13-21).
Let us pray with Saint Ignatius of Loyola: “Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me: I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these, I will be rich enough and will desire nothing more. Amen.”
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