IMPOSSIBLE COMMITMENT
Jesus’ message forces a complete rethinking of life; whoever listens to the Gospel intuits that they are being invited to understand in a radically new way the final meaning of everything and the decisive direction of their conduct.
It’s hard to remain indifferent in the face of Jesus’ word, all the more if one keeps believing in the possibility of being more human each day. It’s hard to not feel unsettled and even a certain discomfort when we hear words like those that are remembered in the Gospel text: «You can’t serve God and Money».
It’s impossible to be faithful to a God who is Father of all and at the same time live enslaved by money and one’s own interest. There’s only one way of living as a «child» of God, and that to live as «brother/sister» of everyone else. The one who lives only at the service of their money and interests can’t be concerned about their brothers/sisters, and can’t therefore be a faithful child of God.
The one who takes Jesus seriously knows that they can’t organize their life from the selfish project of always possessing more and more. The one who goes about dominated by economic interest, though they live a pious and upright life, lacks something essential to be Christian: breaking the slavery of «possessing» that robs our liberty, in order to listen and respond better to the needs of the poor.
There’s no other alternative. We can’t deceive ourselves, believing ourselves «poor in spirit» deep within our heart, since whoever has the soul of the poor doesn’t keep calmly enjoying their goods while next to us there are those in need, even of what’s most essential.
Nor can we deceive ourselves thinking that «the rich» are always someone else. The economic crisis that is leaving so many men and women unemployed, forces us to revise our presuppositions, in order to see if we need to cut back in order to help those who remain without work. This would be a good test to discover if we serve God or our money.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
