20TH MONDAY HOMILY IN ORDINARY TIME — YEAR B
HOMILY THEME: IF YOU WANT TO BE PERFECT…
BY: Fr. Benedict AGBO
Ezek 24:15-24; Psalm (Deut 32:18-21); Matt 19:16-22
Holiness is not actually just about what you do but about what you are. But what you are is factorized by how you think, who you relate with and what you do. A young aristocrat came and asked Jesus in today’s gospel what he must do in order to have eternal life. He knew for sure that eternal life has got something to do with doing good. But Christ let him know that he asked the wrong question. His question should have been: ‘What must I be?’ And the simple answer would have been: ‘You must be holy; detached from earthly possessions, illicit sexual attachments, selfishness, pride, anger, etc and be completely dependent on God. Jesus taught him the simple lesson that if one wants to do good, he / she must relate with the one that is good (and that is God) and practice doing good (virtue) gradually. The ordinary level spirituality is always the avoidance of sins like stealing, fornication, murder, etc but the advanced level spirituality (if you want to be perfect) is detachment and charity (go and sell what you have and give to the poor…). The problem of the young man was that he preferred something to someone (Christ). St Benedict was wise when he gave as his first rule to his followers ‘never to prefer anything else to Christ’.
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The young man went away sorrowful like many of us do everyday after listening to such gospel as today’s. Everybody that listens to today’s gospel and homily without getting detached from money, lustful desires, selfishness, etc will still go away sorrowful because we don’t want to be perfect. We are suffering from spiritual mediocrity – one author called it “the enemy called average”. Many Churches have even turned the gospel upside down. Christ said ‘If you want to make heaven, you should go and sell what you have and give to the poor”, but some are teaching that ‘if you want to make heaven, you should just pay your tithe’. Of course, tithe offering is very important for making heaven but may not even be as important as almsgiving offering. Thanksgiving offering, seed offering, etc are all important signs of detachment. When offerings are given without the requisite detachment, they are spiritually useless. Only detachment and love brings us to the true level of perfection and holiness that guarantees the kingdom. May God bless you today!
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