How are you?

Memorial of Saint Pius X, pope

Readings for Monday
Biographical Information about Saint Pius X

Reflection:

It is said that Americans (meaning people from the United States of America) are the most generous people in the world. We, as a people, give more money to charity than any other nation on earth. In addition, our national government gives more in foreign aid than any other nation on earth. Clearly, generosity is not what wins friends. If it were, the U.S. would be the most respected country on earth, and Americans would be beloved world wide.

There are those who would argue that we should simply stop giving all that aid. Keep the wealth and make life in the US even better for its citizens than it is now. God knows there are those living in this country that could use more help. But I ask the question again, has giving away money made us popular or respected in the world?

The Gospel today tells the story of the wealthy young man who approaches Jesus and asks; “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” At first Jesus challenges his choice of words. Good, he tells the young man is a title reserved for one who is sinless. (That is why I have the annoying habit of, after I have asked how they are and they respond, “I’m good. How are you?” I answer; “I am well. I’d never claim to be good.” Until now I had never though of that as being scriptural, but I guess it is.

At any rate, the Lord goes on to tell the young man that in order to gain eternal life he must follow the commandments and mentions a number of them. It is interesting that, in addition to listing a number of commandments of the Decalogue, he also lists his own Great Commandment, “…and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Notice what he says, that is what is needed to gain eternal life.

What he says next is the very hard part. Jesus tells the wealthy young man that if he wants to be “Perfect” he must sell all he owns, give it to the poor, and follow him (Jesus). Just giving away all he owns does not make him perfect and the invitation is not just “follow me”, which may have been what the young man was hoping for.

The story concludes with the young man sadly going away because he had many possessions The implication being that he was not going to sell all his possessions, they were just too important to him. He did not want to see if faith in God and Christ could sustain him and earn him a place of honor in God’s Kingdom. Following the commandments would have to be good enough.

For us, the most generous people on earth, the question remains. Do we have to give it all away? Do we have to make ourselves poor in order to become perfect? Pope Pius X, whose feast day this is, left as his will; “I was born poor; I lived poor; I wish to die poor." He was going for perfect and, given that he was both our Pope and achieved sainthood, seems to have achieved it. Jesus demands that we; love our neighbor as our self. That means helping those in need. Not many of us have the ability to go for perfect, although sometimes it may seem if our families are trying to help us in that direction. Pax