Daily Reading
First Reading
Ezekiel 24:15-23
The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your sandals on your feet; do not cover your upper lip or eat the bread of mourners. So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.
Then the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting this way?” Then I said to them: The word of the Lord came to me: Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and your heart’s desire; and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your upper lip or eat the bread of mourners. Your turbans shall be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall pine away in your iniquities and groan to one another.
Psalm
Deuteronomy 32:18-19, 20, 21
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you;
you forgot the God who gave you birth.
The Lord saw it, and was jealous;
he spurned his sons and daughters.
He said: I will hide my face from them,
I will see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom there is no faithfulness.
They made me jealous with what is no god,
provoked me with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with what is no people,
provoke them with a foolish nation.
Gospel Reading
Matthew 19:16-22
Then someone came to him and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “I have kept all these; what do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Reflection
Friends, in today’s Gospel, a young man comes to Jesus and asks, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” This honest and searching question symbolizes the universal longing of the human being for moral integrity. As such, it is not primarily a question regarding rules, commandments, and prohibitions but a quest for “the full meaning of life.”
Jesus’s initial response is somewhat enigmatic: “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good.” In fact, it cuts to the heart of the matter. The greatest mistake that the moral searcher can make is to presume that the goal of his quest can be found in any good or truth other than God.
One of the most insistently repeated themes of the Bible is that, since we are made according to God’s image, we will not find fulfillment in anything other than God. And this insight is repeated by practically every major figure in our tradition, most famously and poetically by Augustine: “Our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee.”