28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

1. What must I do to inherit eternal life? How do I get to heaven? How do I live a life which is pleasing to God? So many people have asked that question. Maybe you have too. I believe that every person asks that question in some form or another. How should I live? What is the way forward? What is the right thing to do?

2. Jesus’ answer is eminently practical and concrete. There is no vagueness or squishyness in what Jesus says. He gives him a two-step answer to his question. First, Jesus says, keep the commandments. He means of course the Ten Commandments. “You must not kill. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You just not bring false witness. Honour your father and mother. Keep holy the Sabbath day.” The man knew the Ten Commandments all right. So do we. We know the Ten commandments, and these should be the basis of the way we live. These are the basis of a life that is pleasing to God. To break the commandments is a serious matter and we know we need to ask forgiveness if that happens.

3. The man said that he had always kept the commandments, and maybe that would be our answer too. So Jesus proceeds to the second step. He tells the man: “Come follow me”. The second step is to be the disciple of the Lord, to follow him in the way our vocation in life indicates. For me, it is to be a priest and a bishop. For the Sisters here, their vocation is to religious life, called to vows of poverty, obedience and chastity, and to a life of service in community.    For most here this morning, your vocation is to be a member of the lay faithful, living your discipleship in family life, in faithful married life, in the single life, as an unmarried person or as a widow or widower, called to consecrate the world to God in your life and activity based on the Gospel.

4. The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church uses the question in today’s Gospel: “Teacher, what must I do to have eternal life?” The answer given by the Catechism puts together in a very insightful way what I have been saying about the two step process of keeping the commandments and following Jesus: “To follow Jesus involves keeping the commandments. The law has not been abolished but man is invited to discover it in the Person of the divine Master who realised it perfectly in himself, revealed its full meaning and attested to its permanent validity” (Comp CCC 434).

5. My dear brothers and sisters, I think we are being encouraged  to discover that the way to eternal life lies in prayerful conversation with and loving contemplation of Jesus who invites us to keep the commandments and to follow him.

St. James’, Paisley

15^th October 2006.