Today,
the liturgy of the Word submits to our consideration the famous
passage of the rich young man, that young man that did not succeed in
reacting to the eye-beaming look Jesus Christ cast at him (cf. Mk
10:21). John Paul II reminds us that we can recognize in that young
man all those that approach Jesus Christ by asking him about the
meaning of their own lives: «Master, what good work must I do
to receive eternal life?» (Mt 19:16). His Holiness
comments that «Jesus' interlocutor feels there is a connection
between the moral sense and the fulfillment of his own destiny».
Today, too, how many
ask themselves that same question! If we look around us, we may think
there are not that many who can see beyond, or, perhaps, that the
21st century man does not need that type of questions, being the
answers are no good enough for him.
Jesus
answers him: «Why do you ask me about what is good? Only one is
Good. If you want to enter eternal life, keep the commandments»
(Mt 19:17). It is not only quite legitimate to wonder about
the beyond, about the meaning of life, but... we must do it! The
young man has asked what he must do to receive eternal life, and
Jesus Christ has answered that he must be good.
For some, or for many
—it does not really matter— now a days it may seem
impossible “to be good”... Or it may seem something with
little sense: a piece of nonsense, in fact! But, today, as well as
twenty centuries ago, Jesus Christ keeps on reminding us that to
enter eternal life we must keep the Commandments of the Law of God:
it is not the “A” mark we can aim to, but the only way
for us to resemble God so that we may enter in the eternal life hand
in hand with our Father-God. Actually, «Jesus teaches us that
the commandments are not to be understood as a minimum limit we
should not exceed, but rather as an open path leading to a moral and
spiritual way of perfection, whose most intimate impulse is love»
(John Paul II).
