He was a good man who went to find Jesus and threw himself on his knees before him, a man who had piety in his heart, a religious man and a just man, who goes to Jesus because he feels something inside. He feels the urge to go beyond, to follow Jesus more closely. It was precisely the Holy Spirit that drove him. But when Jesus tells the man that “whoever loves him” must sell all his possessions before following him, “this good and just man, this man inspired by the Holy Spirit to grow closer to Jesus, became discouraged at these words and went away sorrowful. And Jesus turned and said to his disciples: how hard it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God”.

Each and every one of us, needs to examine our conscience and find out what riches keep us from approaching Jesus on the road of life. They are the riches that come from our culture. The first is “well-being” or comfort or luxury. “The culture of well-being that gives us little courage, makes us lazy and selfish”. We think comfort is enough. “No, no, no more than one child, no! Because then we can't go on vacation, we can't go here, we can't buy a house; no! It is all fine and good to follow Jesus but only to a certain point...”

We are in love, with temporal things, while what Jesus offers is infinite. We like the temporary “because we are afraid of God's time”, the end of time.

Wellness and impermanence are precisely the two riches of contemporary society that “prevent us from going forward”. On the other hand, many men and women who have left their homelands as missionaries for their whole lives, and many men and women have left their homes to get married and for their whole lives are working towards the infinite. This, to follow Jesus closely, is the definitive.

Ask the Lord to give us the courage to move forward, stripping ourselves of this culture of well-being, through hope.

27.05.13