Matthew 19: 16-22 (Monday, July 20, 2007)

True religion is not only staying away from the prohibitions, but it is also being at the service of others; it is working actively to change our society. The young man in the gospel of today was doing a good job staying away from the prohibitions. Jesus says that was not good enough. If he truly wants to be perfect, he needs to go sell his possessions and give them to the poor. The man walked away sad because he had so many possessions. The problem is not that he had many possessions, but he was attached to his possessions. In a sense, the possessions became his own little God. This story can be contrasted with the story of Abraham who had only one child, the child of promise and had no hope of getting another, but when God demanded of this child for sacrifice, he generously wanted to sacrifice him. While Abraham was blessed due to his faith in God, the young man walked away sad.

There are things that we sometime hold on to that prevent us from being the people that God wants us to be. We need to spend some time today reflecting to see what those things are. For some of us, it might be our time, for others it might be our cars; our electronic gadgets, etc. Begin to let go of you attachment to these things and attach yourself to Jesus. When you do this, then you are practicing true Christian religion.

Prayer:
Lord, draw us closer to you that we might take our hearts off the things of these world and put our hearts on you alone who is the Lord of our lives. Give us the graces we need that each day, we will become the people you want us to be.