5/22/05

Trinity Sunday small butterfly 5/22/05

Butterfly flying 5/21/05

May 23, 2005

With God Mk 10:17-27
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 men it is impossible, but not for God.
All things are possible for God."
Possessions stand in the way of our path to God. Being able to give it all away is a requirement to be saved. Perhaps the awareness that I am a pilgrim only passing briefly through this world in a life that on earth for a moment, gives a view that makes it easier to detatch from the material. All the goodness in the faith without willingness to give all to follow Jesus falls short.

For me, the material things in life have been something I can enjoy if I have them but I have never been very in need of or attatched to. As a Religious Sister, I have to in a way reinact the reading. I am called by Jesus and in order to follow, I must renounce, give away all my possesions. As a scholastic Sister, this has not been finalized. I have two more years before the soonest time when this could occur. At this point, my finances are in the bank in my name but I am not touching them or managing them, they are more or less frozen or on hold since I entered the novitiate stage of formation. I have really thought very rarely about this and it does not seem to be a sacrifice. I will give up possession but what I had will become common property of the community to dispense as the community and prioress decide. It may go to the poor or it may support the Sisters in simple ways. I have had no deliberations or doubts about this aspect of Religious life.

With God all things are possible. I keep repeating this to myself in times of difficulty that God will help me through the challenges and trials that arise in living.