Just One Thing You lack

Today – 21st August, I was thinking about this Gospel passage:
Matthew 19:16-22

Then someone came to him (Jesus) and said, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ The young man said to him, ‘I have kept all these; what do I still lack?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

I use an app – Pray As You Go … and today there was a quote from Pope Pius X, whose feast day it is today:

“To heal the breach between the rich and the poor, it is necessary to distinguish between justice and charity.” Jesus asks the young man to heal his own breach, to move from the privilege of benefactor to the discomfort of needing others.”

To see the difference between justice and charity …

My situation is one of privilege. Like the person in the Gospel reading.

Inevitably, we read scripture from our own situation and experience, and the challenge of this passage is to begin to see things from a different viewpoint – that of the poor.

How can we truly experience solidarity with the poor ? Maybe only by being poor in some sense ourselves.

The person in today’s Gospel is prevented from seeing things from the viewpoint of the poor by his possessions.

What might be stopping me from this position of solidarity with the poor ?