Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples: “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven.” When the disciples express their astonishment at this—“Who then can be saved?”—Jesus replies, “For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

When we fail on the spiritual path, we must become, like Bartimaeus, beggars. When we stumble in our attempts to follow the law or to set out on the high adventure of discipleship, we must not fall into discouragement or self-reproach. We must once again cry out, “Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison,” relying not on our own powers but on God. 

Thérèse of Lisieux commented that, amidst the many spiritual athletes and strivers around her, she felt like a little helpless child, lifting her arms up and begging to be carried. The heavenly Father, like any good parent, could hardly resist such a sight, and thus she found herself lifted higher than the spiritual “giants.” 

With us, it is finally impossible; but with God, all things—including the making of saints—are possible.