Above all Things
October 15, 2024 at 1:45 p.m.
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In the Gospel of this Sunday Jesus explains to us the importance of leaving everything to follow Him.
The Gospel of Mark tells us that a man approached Jesus explaining to Him that in his daily life he has a good behavior, he is fulfilling the commandments and being faithful to the laws of God. But as we continue to hear the Gospel, we can quickly realize that spiritually he felt dissatisfied and incomplete. Our young man wants to earn eternal life by following the commandments of God, and he is certainly on the right track, but it is not the only thing that is needed to achieve eternal salvation. This is the reason why he seeks Jesus with such determination, because he knows inside his heart that there is something more, there is a spiritual necessity that only Jesus can fulfill.
How many times do we approach Jesus in the same way that this man approached Him? Many of us try to follow God’s commandments and do our best to live a good life. But is that enough? We have to ask ourselves; do we prefer to have our earthly achievements? The things we’ve accomplished in this life and the possessions we own. Or, as Jesus challenged the young man, are we capable of leaving everything to follow Him. Simply put, “we need to love God above all things.”
Every fall I feel like I get this overwhelming sense of exhaustion. It is difficult to keep up with work and with household chores and plans, sometimes I feel that I don’t have enough time. Since I was a child, my mother always told me and my siblings that prayer should be the most important thing of the day. That God has given you another day of life and we must always start by thanking Him and dedicating everything we do to Him. It’s been a bit difficult for me lately. When I get home, I preferred to sit down and rest and turn on the television instead of giving my time to Him. I have that call in my head and in my heart that tells me, “Start praying, what are you waiting for” but lately it seems that usually the fatigue and desire to watch television or scroll on my phone has been stronger than my will to give my time to the Lord.
God loves us and accepts us just as we are, with our problems, tiredness, doubts, mistakes, fears and uncertainties, but “we need to love God above all things” and I repeat it again because it is worth repeating. We live in a world where everything comes before God, and it should not be that way. In the great commandment, Jesus reminds us of the important place that God must have in our lives: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.” Everything else is earthly.
The young man became sad with the answer that Jesus gave him. His riches, his habits, his merits were greater than his love for God. He rejects eternal salvation by having a close bond with what is earthly and not with what God gives us.
Following God requires sacrifices. In the world in which we live, those who have status, money and privilege will always be put first. But those who accept and desire to surrender their lives to Christ will be the first in the kingdom that really matters, which is the kingdom of God.
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Tuesday, October 15, 2024
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Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In the Gospel of this Sunday Jesus explains to us the importance of leaving everything to follow Him.
The Gospel of Mark tells us that a man approached Jesus explaining to Him that in his daily life he has a good behavior, he is fulfilling the commandments and being faithful to the laws of God. But as we continue to hear the Gospel, we can quickly realize that spiritually he felt dissatisfied and incomplete. Our young man wants to earn eternal life by following the commandments of God, and he is certainly on the right track, but it is not the only thing that is needed to achieve eternal salvation. This is the reason why he seeks Jesus with such determination, because he knows inside his heart that there is something more, there is a spiritual necessity that only Jesus can fulfill.
How many times do we approach Jesus in the same way that this man approached Him? Many of us try to follow God’s commandments and do our best to live a good life. But is that enough? We have to ask ourselves; do we prefer to have our earthly achievements? The things we’ve accomplished in this life and the possessions we own. Or, as Jesus challenged the young man, are we capable of leaving everything to follow Him. Simply put, “we need to love God above all things.”
Every fall I feel like I get this overwhelming sense of exhaustion. It is difficult to keep up with work and with household chores and plans, sometimes I feel that I don’t have enough time. Since I was a child, my mother always told me and my siblings that prayer should be the most important thing of the day. That God has given you another day of life and we must always start by thanking Him and dedicating everything we do to Him. It’s been a bit difficult for me lately. When I get home, I preferred to sit down and rest and turn on the television instead of giving my time to Him. I have that call in my head and in my heart that tells me, “Start praying, what are you waiting for” but lately it seems that usually the fatigue and desire to watch television or scroll on my phone has been stronger than my will to give my time to the Lord.
God loves us and accepts us just as we are, with our problems, tiredness, doubts, mistakes, fears and uncertainties, but “we need to love God above all things” and I repeat it again because it is worth repeating. We live in a world where everything comes before God, and it should not be that way. In the great commandment, Jesus reminds us of the important place that God must have in our lives: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.” Everything else is earthly.
The young man became sad with the answer that Jesus gave him. His riches, his habits, his merits were greater than his love for God. He rejects eternal salvation by having a close bond with what is earthly and not with what God gives us.
Following God requires sacrifices. In the world in which we live, those who have status, money and privilege will always be put first. But those who accept and desire to surrender their lives to Christ will be the first in the kingdom that really matters, which is the kingdom of God.