Collect for 28th Sunday of Year B

 

COLLECT SERIES

 

The Mass: Collect Series Icon.

COLLECT 

The Collect for the Twenty Eighth Year B reads as follows:

 

May your grace, O Lord, we pray,

at all times go before us and follow after

and make us always determined

to carry out good works.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,

who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

 

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

In making this prayer tangible, the following reflection questions emerged:

1. What is Grace?

2. How has God’s grace been with you this last week?

3. What areas in my life need God’s grace to go before me this coming week?

4. How can I be a gift of God’s grace to my family, parishioners, work colleagues and to all I meet this coming week?

5. Am I determined to carry out good works this coming week?

6. What good works will I carry out through God’s grace this coming week?

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 GOSPEL REFLECTION

 The Gospel is from St Mark 10:17-30. This Gospel teaches us:

1. Come to Jesus with our problems. Jesus is ready to listen.

2.Over attachment to worldly goods is a big obstacle to entering Heaven. In our modern day we talk about decluttering so we can be freer. Jesus gives us today in the Gospel a very good reason to not only declutter our homes but more importantly declutter our souls in the sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus will set us free.

3. Have an open heart and keep the commandments but to be a closer follower of Jesus- to have a true relationship with Him.

4. Value the goal and be determined to live a life worthy of eternal life in this world.  Do we want to be like the rich man and be so attached to our life here on earth that we do nothing to prepare for our eternal life?  We are on earth to live but to live with a purpose, to live for eternal life. Being with God in Heaven is our goal. The price may be high at times in what Jesus asks of us. Are you willing to pay the price for the sake of eternal life?

 The man in this story was a good-living man, he kept all the commandments from his youth upward and he had an interest in eternal life, while many of his compatriots of that day had not. Reading this man's heart like an open book, Christ saw that not only was he fit for eternal life but that he was one who could have a very high place in heaven if he would leave everything and become a close follower of his. Not only would he become a saint, but he would lead many to sanctity.

The remark of Jesus to the disciples later: "how hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God" holds for all time and for all mankind.

This statement of Christ, however, does not mean that a follower may not possess any of this world's goods. He may possess and use those goods, but what he must not do is to allow them to take such a hold on him that he has no time for acquiring everlasting goods— the Christian virtues.

 Unfortunately, there are Christians whose whole purpose in this life is the accumulation of worldly goods. Concentration on such accumulation is wrong, but in many cases the methods of acquisition are unjust: defrauding laborers of their just wages; overcharging customers; cheating in business deals; giving false measures and many other devices which produce unearned wealth.

All this is far from Christian justice, and those who have let such sinful greed to regulate their lives are certainly not on the road to heaven. There are other sins, of course, which can keep us from heaven, but of all the sins a man can commit this irrational greed for the wealth of this world seems the most unreasonable of them all. How utterly inane and foolish to have spent a lifetime collecting something from which we shall soon be parted forever! The rich man's bank-book and his gilt-edged shares will be not only valueless in the after-life but they, if unjustly acquired, will be witnesses for the prosecution at the judgment on which one's eternal future depends.

While most of us are not guilty of such excessive greed for wealth, we all do need to examine our consciences as to how we acquire and use the limited wealth we have. There are very rich men who have acquired their wealth honestly and justly and who spend much of their wealth on charitable causes. Their wealth will not hinder them from reaching heaven.

On the other hand, on a lower- or middle-income bracket, we cannot excuse ourselves. We may not be able to found a hospital for the poor, or pay an annuity to support the family of a disabled fellow workman, but we are not excused from bringing a little gift to our neighbours who are in hospital, or from supplying even part of a meal for the dependants of the injured workman.

Also, we need to ensure that we may be offending against justice through the means we use to acquire what we have, and in the little helps which we refuse to a needy neighbour.

We may wish to reread the Gospel story of the widow’s mite. Remember that Christ praised the widow who put a mite (a cent) into the collection-box for the poor in the temple area, and he also said that a cup of cold water given in his name would not go without reward. We need not be rich in order to be charitable; often our own exaggerated sense of our poverty can make us hard-hearted and mean toward our fellowmen who look to us for help.

Today’s Gospel therefore reminds us that the true Christian, a true follower of Christ whose principal purpose in life is to serve God, will not overburden himself/ herself  with unnecessary pieces of luggage; instead he/she will travel light and be ever ready to help others also to carry their burdens.

The other aspect of travelling light is not carrying the burden of sin with us.  Jesus is wanting to be merciful to us.  In this time of pandemic, we may not be able to attend the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  However, we can come to God each day and ask His forgiveness.  We can prepare too for that encounter in the Sacrament by being ready for the sacrament.  We may want to really take a good look at ourselves in the light of the Gospel and in the light of this Gospel.