2.5 Commitment
STAGE 2: Awareness of Self
MY MONEY
SUPPORTING GROWTH
COMMITMENT
Aim: To commit ourselves to a new way of relating with possessions in order to grow, through Mary, in Christ Wisdom.
Readings
The one thing (Mk 10:17-22): As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt 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 murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother’”. He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth”. Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me”. When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
All blessings through Mary (TD 178-179): “Pour into the bosom and heart of Mary all your precious possessions, all your graces and virtues. […] Blessed are the persons who have given everything to Mary, who at all times and in all things trust in her, and lose themselves in her. They belong to Mary and Mary belongs to them. With David they can boldly say, ‘She was created for me’, or with the beloved disciple, ‘I have taken her for my own’, or with our Lord himself, ‘All that is mine is yours and all that is yours is mine’”.
Comment
The man who runs up and kneels before Jesus is very conscious of being an upright person: “Teacher, I have kept all the commandments since my youth”. And Jesus “loves him”, not because he is good but because to him he looks miserable, a person whose riches and religious practices have basically left him unhappy. For this reason, Jesus “looks at him” as if to tell him: “Sorry but you cannot deceive me. There is nothing wrong with your riches and your keeping the commandments, but the problem is that the way you hold your riches and the way you keep the commandments, prevent you from relating intimately with ‘the One’ that matters most, that is God”. If you have 10; 100; 1,000; 1,000,000 and you take away number 1 from those amounts, what remains with you? Nothing or only a bunch of zeros, that is nothing! Here Jesus says: “You lack the One”, that is “All”. “You think you have everything but in truth you have nothing”.
What is the solution of Jesus both for that young man and for all of us? He says: “Let go of the selfish ways you have been relating with money and religious practices. Then you’ll have a treasure in heaven, that is, you’ll encounter God intimately in your heart, the ‘One’ that matters most in life”.
Here Jesus echoes his Sermon on the Mount when he says: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat and what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. […] Strive first for the kingdom of God and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mt 6:25.35).
Once again, Montfort cannot hold himself and reminds us that the “One” who matters most and for whom it is worth leaving everything behind, is “given” by Mary. If we consecrate everything to her, the “Tree of Life”, and “if she is well cultivated in our soul, she will in due time bring forth her fruit which is none other than Jesus” (TD 121; 118).
And so, in Hymn 77, Montfort chants, “Mary is my great wealth / With Christ she is my all / My tenderness, my health / My honour’s treasure-hall” (stanza 4).
Personal Reflection and Sharing
How do the words of Jesus resonate in me, “You lack one thing”?
How do I concretely commit myself to “giving to the poor” in order to grow in a deeper relationship with the “Only One”?
How is Mary affirming and assisting me in this commitment?
[2-5] CALL RESPONSE COMMITMENT PRAYER