Daily Gospel Reflection
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October 10, 2021
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up,
knelt down before him, and asked him,
“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good?
No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
you shall not defraud;
honor your father and your mother.”
He replied and said to him,
“Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
“You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
At that statement his face fell,
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,
“How hard it is for those who have wealth
to enter the kingdom of God!”
The disciples were amazed at his words.
So Jesus again said to them in reply,
“Children, 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 one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,
“Then who can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said,
“For human beings it is impossible, but not for God.
All things are possible for God.”
Peter began to say to him,
“We have given up everything and followed you.”
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.”
Living comfortably in a wealthy society, I’ve always found this a challenging gospel. It’s tempting to skip the first half and jump to Jesus’s lines, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!” However, that strikes me as a cop-out, a way to avoid an uncomfortable encounter with a hard truth. Wealth is woven throughout this chapter from the young man who “had many possessions” to Peter reminding Christ that the disciples “have given up everything” and followed him. With what does Jesus wish us to grapple?
I think it is helpful to notice what Christ does not say. He doesn’t say, “People who are wealthy don’t care about others, and that keeps them from the kingdom.” Wealth isn’t the signal of a problem; wealth is the problem. The young man has kept all the commandments from his youth, and “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.” But Jesus wanted more. What is it about wealth that can block us from true discipleship?
Plato said that we desire not only to possess the good but to possess it now and in the future. The rich young man has “many possessions.” He can’t use them all at once, but to give them up would be to give up the possibility of their future use and to relinquish the promise of possible future happiness. A more accessible example? I have more books sitting on my shelves right now than I could possibly read in the next year or even the next ten years. Every time I consider donating one, I think, “But I might need that in the future!” Wealth is like that. It tempts us with an illusion of future security, but that illusion is precisely what Jesus is asking us to surrender.
Lord, help me to put my trust in you, to know that you are the only sure and eternal source of joy and love both now and in the future.
Prayer
Christ our teacher, you call each of us to be free of the things that enslave us, and enter into true freedom as children of God. Open our hearts, that we may accept your invitation, “Come, follow me.” Give us the grace today to commit our whole selves more fully to you. Help us especially this day to overcome any attachments in our lives that prevent us from following you as fully as we can. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Francis Borgia was a member of the ruling elite of Spain, and when he became a Jesuit priest, he used his experience as a governor to spread the work of the Jesuits around the world; he became known as their second founder, after the great St. Ignatius.
He was born in 1510 in Spain,the great-grandson of a pope and a king, and cousin to the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the time. After completing his education, he lived in the Spanish court, where one day he happened to see a man being taken into prison by the Spanish Inquisition. The man was St. Ignatius of Loyola and he was being questioned about his new movement.
Francis married and raised a family and was assigned duties as a governor of Catalonia. He tended to the affairs of the state with diligence, but also began to give more and more time and energy to prayer; he received communion as often as he could.
After 17 years of marriage, Francis’ wife, Eleanor, died, leaving him with eight children, the youngest of whom was 8 years old. The death of his wife spurred him to follow the calling he had been discerning to give his life to God. He recalled the man he had seen imprisoned, and vowed to join his Society of Jesus. Ignatius received the news with joy, but advised him to finish raising his children first, and to bring his executive business to a close.
After several years, having settled his children, Francis joined Ignatius in Rome and became a Jesuit at the age of 40. During his formation, his superiors made a point to treat him opposite to what he was used to—they made him clean the kitchen and serve food and mop floors. He returned to Spain, and was ordained a priest. News of the duke who turned into a Jesuit made a sensation, and people crowded to his Masses.
He began to preach in Spain and Portugal, carrying a bell and calling children to the town square wherever he was to teach them the faith. His words encouraged many to reform their lives and their businesses, and he was one of the first to meet and encourage the great St. Teresa of Avila.
St. Ignatius placed Francis in charge of the Jesuit order in Spain, where he founded new communities and colleges. He was later called back to Rome to assist the growing community from there, and has been called the second founder of the Jesuits for his influence in shaping the new order. Even though it is credited to the pope, it was Francis Borgia who really founded the famous Gregorian University in Rome.
His previous life as a governor gave him skills that he used to establish and promote the work of Jesuits around the world. In all of this logistical work, however, he never got distracted from his life of prayer and faithfulness—those always remained central to him. He sought after humility with diligence—many knew him as a royal personage, and tried to show him deference, but he insisted on being treated according to his state of life as a priest.
Worn out by his work and travels, he died in 1572. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, and the image below was created by Matthew Alderman '06 and is used here with his permission. It shows St. Ignatius in the center, flanked by St. Francis Xavier on the left and St. Francis Borgia on the right.
St. Francis Borgia, you were the duke and father of 8 children who became a Jesuit—pray for us!
Image Credit: (1) Our featured image of St. Francis Borgia is in the public domain. Last accessed October 3, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons. (2) Notre Dame alumnus Matthew Alderman holds exclusive rights to the further distribution and publication of his art. Used here with permission.
