REFLECTION

""" Riches are a good handmaid, but the worst mistress ( Francis Bacon )
 
    St. Francis Xavier, who was a professor at the university of Paris, left his worldly pursuits and dedicated himself for the service of God at the age of 28, at Montmartre in 1534. The biblical verse, which converted him, is the words of our lord, "what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his soul (MK 8 : 36). "He became one of the greatest missionaries of all times. He took the Gospel far and wide. He preached and won people for God in India, Ceylon, Malacca, Indonesia, and Japan. He renounced everything to regain Christ. What a contrast we have between this young man of the 16th century and the nameless rich young man of the Gospel. One  left everything, followed Christ and attained eternal life, and the other clung to everything, refused to follow Christ and forfeited eternal life. The journey of the young man in today's Gospel began well but ended up tragically. The journey of the rich young man in today's Gospel is a journey of a seeker that was terminated in the end with a tragedy. Let us see the different stages he underwent as a seeker.

    1) We First Meet Him As A Sincere seeker
   
     There are a lot of good things that could be said about this man. Although he was young, he showed an interest in spiritual things. He was rich yet he cared for his soul. He consistently obeyed the commands of the law of Moses. He was humble. As a young man he not only honored his parents but was also willing to get the spirituall advice of a poor, uneducated, itinerant Preacher. He was also wise because in all his wealth and righteous possessions, he still considered that he might lack something.
      When he came to Jesus he knelt down at the feet of Jesus and asked him, "Good master, what must i do to inherit eternal life?" This young man questioned Jesus not out of simple curiosity, not to trap or fix Him in a problem. There was a sincere desire in him to seek the truth. He was a sincere seeker. The Bible says, When Jesus looked at him, he loved him." But the sad truth is that the story goes downhill from this point.
     
      2) In The Second Stage, We see this Young Man a Shallow Seeker
     
      Superficially, the man seems like a holy man. When Jesus quotes the commandments - "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You must not steal, You shall honor your father and mother ...." The man said, I have kept these laws from my youth." When you look at these commandments, all except one are negative commandments. He led a very respectable life - he did not do harm to anybody.  That was good, but it was not good enough. He has not done any harm; it is true. But what good had he done? He had so much wealth,so much possession, but what had he done with his riches? Did he go out in helping others? Respectability consists in not doing harm to others, but Christianity consist in doing good things to the others. When Jesus suggested him to do something good, the man refused.
      He wanted to seek eternal life, without sacrifice. Without emptying himself he wanted to fill himself with God. His search for eternal life did not have the commitment. He was a shallow seeker. He came to Jesus to get eternal life without any willingness to change himself.