These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Jesus said to his disciples: "Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, 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." When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible." (Mt 19:23-30)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082024.cfm
It is only God who can lead us to salvation. Saint Bernard (1090-1153) heard God’s call and left everything to follow Christ. In my younger years, I was a monk of Saint Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama.
Jesus said to him, “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.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. (Mt 19: 16-22)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081924.cfm
What is the cost of discipleship, to be able to follow him? It is a challenge we must all face throughout our lives. There is a scene in the movie, Becket, where the recently named Archbishop of Canterbury is required to give away all his possessions. Becket is in the hall of the monastery giving away all his possessions to the poor, when he looks up at the wall, sees the Crucifix, and says to himself, “It’s so easy.” Of course, as the story goes on, it will become exceedingly more difficult.
Jesus said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. (Jn 6:51-58)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081824.cfm
Food is essential to physical life. Food is essential to our spiritual life. The food that Christ gives is the gift of himself, the Eucharist, the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, says the Lord GOD. Return and live! (Ez 18:1-19, 13b, 30-32)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081724.cfm
“Return and live!” God’s invitation calls us to hope in mercy and to see ourselves as being able to change. A new heart and a new spirit is possible because it is God who opens the way for us. Even in the face of death, God promises resurrection. And as the Blessed Virgin Mary reminds us, with God all things are possible.
Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl, and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you, that you may remember and be covered with confusion, and that you may be utterly silenced for shame when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord GOD. (Ez 16:1-15, 60, 63)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081624.cfm
In the middle of the Exile, after they had lost everything, the prophet Ezekiel still holds out the promise of pardon and the hope of an everlasting covenant.
