Texts taken from the Missalette “On Your Word” September-October 2024

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
4th week, Psalter

FIRST READING

From the Book of Wisdom (Wis 7:7-11)
I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepters and thrones, and I considered wealth nothing in comparison with her. I did not compare her even with a priceless gem, because all the gold, in her view, is but a little sand, and silver will be valued as mud in her presence. I loved her more than health and beauty, and I preferred her to the light, because her splendor never ceases. All good things came to me together with her; in her hands is wealth beyond measure. - The Word of the Lord. 

Commentary on the First Reading

Having prudence and wisdom is worth more than all the riches in the world, the first reading tells us. Of course, we must also understand what kind of wisdom is meant, because God's wisdom is one thing and the world's wisdom another. Knowing things according to God means interpreting the situations of life and the world in the light of faith. Faith is never contrary to reason, but illuminates and directs it. Those who have great faith live it, practice it, and exercise it on every occasion: from the way they dress to the way they prepare food, from how they speak with their neighbor to the great choices of moral life. Those who have faith see everything according to God and put everything back in its proper place, even though the world, which is opposed to God and the Church, naturally says the exact opposite. We also read that all the riches of gold and silver are nothing compared with this Christian understanding. People today would not agree; they would say it is better to be enormously rich than to have wisdom. But the reckoning comes at the end of life: worldly wealth does not save the soul; a life of faith does. 

SECOND READING

From the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 4:12-13)
The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword; it penetrates to the point of division between soul and spirit, between joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. No creature can hide from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account. - The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Second Reading

Why is the word of God so powerful? Because the word of God is God himself. How does the Lord enter you and live in your heart? Through the words he speaks and that you hear in Sacred Scripture, in homilies, in the books of Tradition, in the authentic Magisterium of the Church, in the lives of the saints, and so on. The Word enters you not to inform you or give you some additional knowledge, but to bring you into contact with God's very presence, to shake you, turn you upside down, and make you be reborn in the Holy Spirit. It is no coincidence that Jesus is also called the “Word,” a term that expresses an action, a movement. Already in the Old Testament, the word of God was called a sword (in the passage from Isaiah that we read today, quoted again in the Letter to the Hebrews), and also a hammer (Jer 23:29), all dangerous things used to cut and shatter. God enters you even now, today, and his task is to make himself heard in order to create new life in you. This is why we have two ears and only one mouth: to listen at least twice as much as we speak. Moreover, the ears are always open, while the mouth can be closed at will. 

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Mark (Mk 10:17-30)
At that time, 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 said to 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 mother.’” He replied, “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. Looking around, Jesus 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, “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 a rich person 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 human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.” Peter began to say to him, “We have given up everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, along with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.” - The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the Day

“I truly believe that the world - writes Georges Bernanos - will be saved by the poor. These poor people exist; it is just that we know them poorly because they also know one another poorly. They have not taken any vow of poverty: it is the good Lord who has imposed it on them, without their knowing it. The poor possess the secret of hope.” Poverty and wealth, then, are not measured by how much money you possess, but by whom you place your hope in. The truly poor person is one who struggles to live, pay the bills, and buy groceries, while continually turning to the Lord, knowing that God is Father and cares for his children. The rich person is one who already has everything and needs nothing. In the end, the roles will be reversed, because the poor will inherit the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:3), while the rich person will end up unhappy, blind, and naked (Rev 3:17), and will find it very difficult to inherit the kingdom of God. Let us therefore hurry to join the ranks of those who exercise hope, humbly ask God to enrich them with his grace, are content with what they have, and ardently long for eternal salvation for themselves and for everyone. “Such a poor person,” Bernanos concludes poetically, “eats every day from the hand of God.”