Joke: The parish church was badly in need of repair. So the pastor called a special meeting to raise funds. At the assembly, the pastor explained the need for an emergency fund for plastering the roof and supporting pillars and for carrying out other items of repair. He invited the congregation to pledge contributions. After a brief pause, Mr. Murphy, the richest man in the parish, volunteered to give fifty dollars. Just as he sat down, a hunk of plaster fell from the ceiling on his head. He jumped up, looked terribly startled, and said: “I meant to say five hundred dollars.” The congregation stood silent and stunned. Then a lone voice cried out from the back: “Oh Lord, hit him again!”

In all today’s readings, the Church puts together not to discourage those who are rich to help the Church, the Church is always welcome the help. However, the Church invites us to learn to detach what is so attached to us in following the Lord Jesus. The detachment that the Lord Jesus invites us is not necessarily the material possessions, but what is so attached to us, the Lord Jesus invites us to detach from them to follow him. What does that mean if it’s not to depend on the Lord in good times or in bad, in health or sickness, and all things, we are invited to lean on the Lord, to come to seek wisdom and guidance and to acknowledge the need for God in our life?

In today’s first reading, taken from the book of Wisdom, the author tries to help us understand that all good things come to us, riches and wealth that we are possessed obtained under the guidance of wisdom when he says, “All good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.” What is wisdom and how are we able to recognize and listen to the wisdom guiding us in our life?

It is very clear that it is not a matter of the mind, the ability to think and to reason with the mind only, but it is rather the ability to listen and reflect of the heart in following the guidance of wisdom that Saint Paul beautifully describes in today’s second reading saying that the Word of the Lord, the wisdom of the Lord is “able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” The heart can discern and reflect on the words of wisdom. These discerning and reflecting of the heart are guided by wisdom in pursuing the eternal life that in today’s Gospel, Saint Mark repeats the teaching of the Lord Jesus to a young man saying, “Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” The young man was so attached to his material possessions that somehow shut the ability of the heart to discern and to reflect on the words of Jesus that he couldn’t detach from his material possessions.

The question the young man presented to the Lord Jesus was, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life.” Had this question come from the mind or the heart? The “What” question requests an answer for the subject that the curious mind would want to know, but the “how” question, how must I do to inherit eternal life, would provide the way to follow and achieve the end. This is the discerning and reflecting of the heart, not the mind, to detach what is so attached to the young man. Our Blessed Virgin Mary responded to the invitation of the angel to be the mother of God saying, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” (Lk 1:34) In pondering and reflecting, Mary asked for the way to achieve the end when she was put in the confusion of the mind. The angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Lk 1:35). Through reflecting and discerning in her whole life on the words of Wisdom that she believed in the words of the angel and asked for a way to achieve. The young man, on the other hand, memorized and observed all the commandments using the wonderful mind that God granted him, but he failed to discern and reflect on the meaning of the words that he couldn’t detach from what he possessed. The young man had everything, and he looked for more, to inherit the kingdom of God. Does it sound like he’s so greedy and didn’t know what he was looking for? Is it greedy a story of more than two thousand years ago? Have you and I ever been greedy in our lives? If we can drive a $30,000 vehicle and put only $10 in the collection basket a week, have we been greedy? If we can live in a house of $200,000 and put only $20 in the collection basket a week, have we been greedy? If we put money away in saving for this walk of life, what would we save for eternal life? We work hard for a better living condition is nothing wrong with it, but how would we inherit the kingdom of God after this walk of life? Do we have to come to follow the Lord Jesus to inherit the kingdom of heaven? Not really. Jesus says very clearly to the young man, “Go, sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.” He didn’t say, Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, then come and follow me, and you will have the treasure in heaven. The moment that we detach what is so attached to us in this world and share that with those who are in need, the moment that we inherit the kingdom of God, and do not need to follow the Lord Jesus to inherit the kingdom that we often think that we have to come and to follow the Lord Jesus to inherit the kingdom of God. Is it easy to detach what is so attached to us in this world? After the young man left, Jesus said, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” Or rather, how difficult it is for those who are so attached to this world to inherit the kingdom of God.

The young man left when Jesus asked him to sell what he had to give to the poor to inherit the kingdom of God, is that a wise choice? Perhaps, we are invited to detach what is so attached to us on our spiritual journey here on earth, but have we made a wise choice? Is there another way when we cannot detach what is so attached to us to inherit the kingdom of God? Why didn’t Jesus tell the young man to sell all that he had to offer to the Church rather than give it to the poor? To inherit the kingdom of God is to share what we have with others, especially those who are in need, or to give it to the Church, to be involved in a lot of activities in the Church, to participate in many organizations of the Church? “Go, sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.” What is this treasure? Can we experience this treasure here on this earth when we detach what is so attached to us? The treasure in heaven that we might be able to experience right here and right now on this earth is peace. Have you and I found peace in ourselves in following the Lord Jesus in this walk of life? The decision is yours.