One of the great concern many priests and probably many of you have is that fewer and fewer people seem to be concerned with this question: young people, our family members, over 80% of Catholics who aren’t even going to Church on Sundays anymore. What happened? What changed?
It’s certainly one of the symptoms of the secularism and materialism of our age: this indifference to eternity. Many ask questions like, “what must I do to get into Harvard, what must I do to be a famous athlete, what must I do to make my first million by the age of 30?” Maybe, many people do not even have a driving question.
This man in the Gospel today, he had this driving question. So much so, notice, St. Mark tells us, that he runs up to Jesus, he falls to his knees, to ask this question.
Perhaps so few are asking about eternity because so much information is available at our fingertips now. People figure, well, when the time comes to start asking ultimate questions, I can just look up the answer on the internet. Perhaps, they are so caught up into the trivial, they don’t even think to concern themselves with what comes next.
Or, perhaps, they have thought about eternity, and instead of turning to God for answers, they’ve concluded that, well, eternal life is a guarantee, everybody goes to heaven.
And that would make things everything easier. Rich, poor, religiously devout, religiously neglectful, everyone goes to heaven. I’ve come across this belief among many Catholics.
But this answer is at odds with what Jesus teaches in the Gospel. There are a lot of things that can keep us from heaven. “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” And that’s just one situation. Read through the Gospels, and note how many times Jesus uses the word “unless”. Unless you do this, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. “Unless you become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” “Unless you are born again by water and the holy spirit, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood” and so on.
The young man went away sad in the Gospel, because the Son of God told him that unless he gave up his love of possessions he couldn’t go to heaven. Many refuse to ask that ultimate question, what must I do to inherit eternal life” because they are unwilling to face that “unless”. For some people, it’s just easier to provide their own answer, write their own Gospel—an anti-Gospel—where can have your cake and eat it to, where you can have heaven without having to change anything about yourself on earth. I’m already perfect is the great anti-Gospel of our age. Because why would you need God if you’re already perfect?
In a few days we begin the great season of Lent, a time for us to acknowledge what in us, in our attitudes and behaviors and attachments need to be given up, in order to be perfected by God. The world is confounded by this, those who already believe themselves perfect, can’t imagine why we would do penance. But God work through our penances to bring about a change of heart for those who live the anti-Gospel, that all hearts may come to long and seek the life that can only come from Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens. And for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”
That the upcoming season of Lent may be a time of profound renewal for our parish and the Church as we engage in the penitential practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
For the conversion of those who reject the Gospel, for grace to break through to hearts hardened toward God, for the protection of young people from the errors and perversions of our culture.
For those who struggle because of addiction, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, inclement weather, or ongoing trials of any kind.
For the dead, for all of the souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Holy mass is offered.
O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you are the source of all goodness, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith, we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.
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