Scripture:
Reflection:
Following Jesus…Really!
Today’s Gospel selection flows from yesterday’s Gospel wherein the evangelist Mark relates the touching saga of a rich young man who runs after Jesus, kneels before Him and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus looked at him with love and reminded him of the Commandments and the need to be free from all attachments, even worldly goods, and then follow Him. The young man went away sad for he had many possessions.
Jesus then challenged his disciples by commenting how hard it is for those with wealth to enter the Kingdom of God. He also encouraged them: “All things are possible for God”…even camels moving through the eye of a needle…
Then Peter questions Jesus and takes the idea a step further, speaking for so many of us: what about us, we’ve left everything?? Jesus states that we’ll receive “a hundredfold” of good things – and some persecution, and eternal life in the age to come. Great!! But…huh?…really??
Following Jesus as 21st Century disciples means following His very Life. As countless spiritual authors have reflected, that means letting Jesus’ life become our way of life, which includes a litany of transformative virtues: sensitivity, celebration, compassion, openness, willingness, determination, generosity, prayerfulness, selflessness, sacrifice…yes, unconditional love.
The great season of renewal called “Lent 2025” starts tomorrow, and today’s Gospel helps prime the pump for a possible approach to our Lenten “metanoia” or change of heart. Jesus invites us to ponder His life, to follow Him, to help our sisters and brothers worldwide experience God’s love for them in their every blessing and need.
May Jesus look at each of us with love and share with us His encouragement to “do the impossible”: to freely and lovingly join Him in lives of selfless love and service. May we be blessed these days…and every day, both on earth and –with God’s loving help – in heaven!
Fr. John Schork, C.P. serves as the Province Vocation Director and also as Local Superior of the Passionist Community of Holy Name in Houston, Texas.