I was blessed my final year of seminary to travel to Rome
with my classmates over J-term. As
part of the experience we took a five day silent retreat in nearby Assisi. This was a powerful time of prayer in
the footsteps of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi. At the same time, you can probably already imagine how I
would do being silent for five days.
At
the conclusion of our retreat I was among the chatterboxes making up for five
days worth of words. My classmates
and I were sharing about some of the graces we had received, and one of them
stands out today.
One
of my friends talked about how struck he was by Christ’s radical call to
poverty. He said, “Christ did not
say to give of our excess, or even part of what we own…he said to give it
all!” He noted how he wanted to
embrace this life of poverty. Not
five minutes passed and he chuckled saying, “But not with food or drink!” We all had a good laugh, and he earned
the name Francesco (Francis) to this day.
Jesus
told the young man, “If
you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the
poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven. Then
come, follow me.”
As
a priest, it is easier and a lot more comfortable softening this dramatic
invitation. I would feel better
telling you, “Jesus is telling us about detachment,” or, “The purpose of the
young man’s encounter with Christ is to teach us about simplicity of
life.” Both would be true, but
Jesus’ own words do not express this.
We
are called to give Christ and the poor everything!
Without
relaxing Jesus’ standards, remember that he calls each of us individually. Some today really do sell what they
have to follow Jesus. I have in
mind the many religious sisters and brothers—some of whom I have walked with;
they actually give away their possessions before entering a convent or
monastery. At the same time, if
you have children at home, or have a job in our community, you probably cannot
sell everything.
Here
I would encourage you—don’t let the perfect be an obstacle to the good. Don’t throw your hands up and respond
to Christ, “I can’t give away everything, so I might as well do nothing!” Are there items in your home or closet
that you haven’t used in a year?
This is a good place to start.
Give those to people who would use them. Could you go out to eat less in order to share that money so
that someone else could eat?
Take
Jesus’ call seriously and give God and the poor everything.
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