The Rich Man Mk 10: 17, 19-20, 21b-25
You don’t have to be on the Forbes list of billionaires, 2,208 worldwide 39 in Canada, to be considered rich in God’s eyes. If we look deeply we can probably all identify some similarities in our own life to that of the rich man and his treasures? Things that we would find hard to part with perhaps even impossible to leave behind.
What was it that the rich young man could not let go of and leave behind? Ask yourself:
- What is it that most drives me in my life?
- What do I spend the most time thinking about?
- Where is my heart?
- What do I desire most?
- Does God come into consideration in any of these areas?
Is the answer money or possessions, family, job, and prestige, honours and awards, physical fitness and recreation? Each of these, and by the way the list is endless, can all form part and parcel of our treasures. Would I be willing to sacrifice these when asked or would I simply walk away as he did unable to let them go?
Now I am not saying that any of these goals and objectives or possessions is bad. No, the error is in the way we perceive or covet them for their own sake at the expense of God and neighbour. Therein lies the problem.
Let us not forget the poor widow’s offering. As Jesus sat watching the crowd putting money into the treasury he saw the rich putting in large sums and a poor widow who put in all she had two small copper coins. He told his disciples that the poor widow put in more than all the others combined as she had given everything she had out of her poverty whereas they gave only a part of their surplus.
The Lord is simply asking you for a giving and loving spirit in a friendly mood with a smile, a word of encouragement to a family member or fellow worker or student, a greeting to a homeless person, holding your tongue when justly or unjustly confronted, accepting minor irritations which are sure to arise daily, not always seeking to have things go your way, not complaining when failing to receive recognition or praise for a job well done, etc.
Now all this takes is humility. I must be able to offer my all to Jesus who offered himself on the Cross as a sacrifice for me, to adore him and give him the honour, which is due to him, confessing his supreme dominion over all things, and the absolute dependence of everything upon him, who is my one and last end.
In all humility give honour where honour is due. Try saying; “Praise the Lord” when complimented for a job well done or when receiving recognition and honours or awards.
“We should offer ourselves and all we have to God that He may dispose of us according to His holy will, so that we may be ever ready to leave all.” – St Vincent de Paul
“The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.” – St. Basil the Great
Claude Bédard, Chair
National Spirituality Committee
Prayer for Meditation
The Litany of Humility
Rafael Cardinal Merry del Va (1865-1930)
V.: O Jesus! meek and humble of heart,
R.: Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved…
From the desire of being extolled…
From the desire of being honoured…
From the desire of being praised…
From the desire of being preferred to others…
From the desire of being consulted…
From the desire of being approved…
From the fear of being humiliated…
From the fear of being despised…
From the fear of suffering rebukes…
From the fear of being calumniated…
From the fear of being forgotten…
From the fear of being ridiculed…
From the fear of being wronged…
From the fear of being suspected…
That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I…
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease…
That others may be chosen and I set aside…
That others may be praised and I unnoticed…
That others may be preferred to me in everything…
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…
Amen
https://spiritualdirection.com/2010/03/06/litany-of-humility