This Sunday’s canonization of Oscar Romero provided a lens through which to view the radical call to discipleship that Jesus issues to the rich man—and to all of us—in today’s Gospel.<\/p>\n
Readings: Wisdom 7:7-11; Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 10:17-30<\/p>\n
If Jesus\u2019 words in today\u2019s Gospel
\ndo not make most of us profoundly uncomfortable
\nthen we are not really paying attention.
\n\u201cIt is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
\nthan for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.\u201d
\nMaybe we are not paying attention to the words themselves
\nor maybe we are not paying attention to our own lives.
\nEven with our genuine struggles
\ntrying to pay tuitions or credit card debt
\nor a mortgage or medical bills,
\nwe citizens of the modern developed world
\nstill live in a material abundance
\nthat surpasses the richest person of Jesus\u2019 day
\nand most people alive in our own day.
\n\u201cHow hard it is for those who have wealth
\nto enter the kingdom of God.\u201d
\nAs the Letter to the Hebrews says,
\n\u201cthe word of God\u2026is sharper than any two-edged sword\u2026
\neverything is naked and exposed to the eyes
\nof him to whom we must render an account.\u201d
\nIf we are not squirming,
\nif we are not feeling God\u2019s word
\npenetrating to the deepest thoughts of our hearts,
\nthen we are not paying attention.<\/p>\n
But Jesus is not, I think, simply trying to make us feel guilty\u2014
\nthough exploiting the motivating power of guilt
\nis a fine Catholic tradition that I, as a parent, approve of.
\nNor is he saying that our prosperity is somehow in itself evil.
\nJesus\u2019 concern for the rich man who asks him,
\n\u201cwhat must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d
\nis not simply that he make himself poor.
\nThe key to understanding Jesus\u2019 words to the rich man is not
\n\u201cGo, sell what you have, and give to the poor\u201d
\nbut what follows: \u201cthen come, follow me.\u201d
\nLike Solomon in our first reading,
\nJesus calls the rich man to give up what he has
\nin order to gain something far more valuable,
\nthe heavenly treasure of wisdom.
\nJesus, divine wisdom made flesh,
\ncalls him to give up everything that holds him back
\nfrom being his disciple,
\neverything that holds him back
\nfrom following in the way of wisdom,
\nwhich is Jesus\u2019 way of cross and resurrection.
\nThe act of giving his wealth to the poor
\nis simply the prelude to following Jesus.<\/p>\n
It is true that it is often our material possessions
\nthat hold us back,
\nthe things that we accumulate
\nand on which we stake our happiness,
\nwhich form a wall around us
\nto protect us from God and from other people.
\nBut that protective wall
\ncan be built of other, less tangible, things as well:
\nour self-image,
\nour reputation,
\nour ideologies,
\nour compulsions and our addictions.
\nThese are all burdens that Jesus calls us to give up
\nin order to be free to follow him on the path of discipleship.
\nBut can we answer this call?
\nCan we become free enough to follow Jesus’ way?
\nWe are, after all, just ordinary people.<\/p>\n
Today in Rome, in the solemn rite of canonization,
\nthe Church declared Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador,
\nwho was killed by a government death squad
\nwhile celebrating Mass on March 24, 1980,
\nto be a saint.
\nWhen he became bishop of San Salvador in 1977
\nRomero was seen
\nby both the government and the Church
\nas an ordinary bishop, a \u201csafe\u201d bishop:
\none who was traditional in his theology
\nand unwilling to interfere in politics,
\none who would not cause trouble.
\nBut when priests who worked among the poor
\nand advocated for their rights
\nbegan turning up dead,
\nkilled by government-sponsored death squads,
\nRomero\u2019s eyes were opened
\nto the plight of the poor in his country,
\nand he began speaking out against government repression.
\nThe day before he was killed,
\nhe made a direct appeal to the soldiers in the military:
\n\u201cNo soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God.
\nNo one has to obey an immoral law.
\nIt is high time you recovered your consciences
\nand obeyed your consciences rather than a sinful order\u2026
\nIn the name of God,
\nin the name of this suffering people
\nwhose cries rise to heaven more loudly each day,
\nI implore you,
\nI beg you,
\nI order you in the name of God:
\nstop the repression.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like the rich man in today\u2019s Gospel,
\nOscar Romero heard the call of Jesus to give up everything\u2014
\nthe favor of Church and State,
\nhis previous ideas of what it meant to be a bishop,
\nand ultimately even his life\u2014
\nin order to learn true wisdom
\nby following Jesus on the way of the cross.
\nHis example pleads with us,
\njust as he pleaded with the soldiers of El Salvador,
\nto value the wisdom of God above all else,
\nto let the two-edged sword of God\u2019s word
\nprobe our consciences,
\nto listen to the voice of God
\nand be willing to surrender everything for the sake of God.<\/p>\n
Oscar Romero was an ordinary man,
\nsomeone who, like us, lived behind protective walls
\nof money and power,
\nof ideology and self-image,
\nof reputation and prestige.
\nBut Jesus called him forth from that ordinary life
\nand stripped him of every worldly protection
\nand placed him amidst the demonic powers of hatred and greed
\nwith nothing except the love of God to clothe him,
\nnothing but the cross of Christ to shelter him.
\nGod made this ordinary man a saint
\nby teaching him the wisdom of the cross.
\nAnd God will make us saints as well,
\nif we are willing to practice the daily discipline
\nof paying attention to Jesus\u2019 call
\nto come follow him,
\nof paying attention to our lives
\nand all that holds us back from answering that call,
\nof opening ourselves to the grace
\nthat can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.
\nSaint Oscar Romero,
\npray for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This Sunday’s canonization of Oscar Romero provided a lens through which to view the radical call to discipleship that Jesus issues to the rich man—and to all of us—in today’s Gospel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":43492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3119,3294,46,362,187],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-plaza-new-ws","category-ars-praedicandi","category-homiletics","category-saints-mary","category-social-justice"],"yoast_head":"\n