Rich Boy

We’ve got a rich boy who is content with following rules but not Christ:

He went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth (Mark 10).

My father used to say to me:

Money is a lot when you don’t have any.

How true. But how true is our first reading:

Compared with wisdom, I held riches as nothing. Compared with wisdom, all gold is a pinch of sand, and beside her silver ranks as mud (Wisdom 7).

I’m surmising the young man inherited the wealth and got enslaved in it. In my experience, very few people know how to handle large sums of money. Sad.

St. Antony of Egypt (251-355) heard this gospel proclaimed in his parish church and left his wealth all behind.

He spent his life as the first Christian hermit in the wilderness of Egypt, received countless pilgrims seeking guidance as the Roman Empire collapsed, and was fearless in supporting persecuted Christians by visiting them in prison.

Whilst our rich boy ‘missed the boat,’ Antony heard the echo of Christ’s words and responded magnificently.

Surely, we must be daring.

All we have to do is exorcise the sand and the mud.

Amen.