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Gospel Reflection for Monday, March 3, 2025
The first thing that strikes me about this text is the question the man asks Jesus: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” It makes me think that sometimes we are so worried about the future that we can’t live in the present. This man is thinking about what will happen to him after death. But it seems like he isn’t thinking much about what he has right now. I would have understood the question better if he had asked something like, “What must I do to live a fulfilling life?” Because what we have in our hands is already life, the greatest gift the Lord has given us. We must take full advantage of this gift, enjoy it, revel in it, and delight in it. The truth is, we have nothing else. As an elderly priest once said, no matter how hard we clench our fists, we cannot extend this life that we are given, this present moment, by even a minute. That’s why we must live it to the fullest.
The second thing we should think about is what it means for us to enjoy, delight, and revel in the life we have been given. Some might think of having many things, houses, cars, and of course, money in the bank to buy even more. Wrong! I doubt all those things truly help us enjoy life. The truth, the plain truth, is that life is only truly enjoyed through shared love. That is true joy—the kind that comes from fraternity, open hands, joyful encounters with others, and justice that does not exclude or condemn anyone but saves and creates family. Isn’t that the Kingdom? Isn’t that the deepest meaning of the Eucharist? Only there is our salvation, a full life.
Having many things, much power, or much security leads to nothing but loneliness. This is very clear at the end of the movie “The Godfather II”. The movie ends with a scene where the godfather, the protagonist, is alone in a huge house. He has killed all his enemies. He has all the power. But he is alone, alone. Is that enjoying life?