Come Away By Yourselves

After the Rich Young Man goes away sad, Jesus tells his disciples twice that it will be difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.  The possession of riches comes with the danger of relying on them too much, seeking our happiness in them, falling into a kind of practical idolatry.  The solution to this is detachment or poverty of spirit.   Detachment frees our hearts to love God and others.

Jesus tells us about two sons.  One does his father's will after saying he wouldn't.  The other says yes to his father but promptly disobeys him.  Jesus, our model, does both: he says yes to the Father's plan and then carries it out.  Loving God's will is essential to our Christian life.  It is Jesus's sole motive and he is our sole model.  St. Josemaria also greatly emphasized this key aspect of holiness.

This Sunday's Gospel portrays God as a generous employer of many workers.  What would it mean to work for God?  Are we grateful for the work and people God has entrusted us with in our Christian life?

Like the apostles themselves, the life of the Christian is a call to be close to Jesus and to go out and spread the Good News.  Holiness and apostolate are two sides to the same divine vocation.   To be an apostle, however, we have to confront various obstacles which would keep us from sharing Christ with others.

On September 8th we celebrate the Feast of The Nativity of Our Lady.  THis is an opportunity to contemplate her humility and her radical response to God.