Everything is possible for God

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B - 10th October 2021 

Gospel Mark 10: 17–30 (part)

Jesus was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, ‘Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You must not kill; You must not commit adultery; You must not steal; You must not bring false witness; You must not defraud; Honour your father and mother.’ And he said to him, ‘Master, I have kept all these from my earliest days.’ Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him, and he said, ‘There is one thing you lack. Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!’ The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, ‘My children,’ he said to them, ‘how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were more astonished than ever. ‘In that case’, they said to one another, ‘who can be saved?’ Jesus gazed at them. ‘For men and women’, he said, ‘it is impossible, but not for God: because everything is possible for God.’

How hard it is for those who have riches...

Gospel Reflection from St Beuno's Outreach

I open my heart and mind to the Lord’s loving presence with me as I settle down to pray.

As I read the words of the Gospel, it may help to imagine the scene.

How do I feel as I see the look of love that Jesus has for the young man?

How do I respond to his sadness as he realises that he isn’t able to give up his wealth? Do I share the astonishment of the disciples as they hear Jesus’s teaching, and seek to understand its meaning?

Maybe I can put myself in the young man’s place, and let Jesus look at me with that same love. What might he be asking of me?

Are there riches (not necessarily material) to which I cling, which prevent me from being free to follow him as he asks?

I spend some time pondering these ques ons with the Lord.

I end my prayer asking the Lord for the grace to know him more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly, day by day.

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