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Today’s feast commemorates the extraordinary conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus.  Paul, whose original name was Saul, was born in Tarsus, a city in the province of Cilicia, in what is now the southeast corner of Turkey.

As he himself boasted, his Jewish credentials were impeccable. He was also a Pharisee and hence an outstanding observer of the Mosaic Law.  It would be quite natural for him to be outraged by the teaching of the disciples of Jesus. As far as he was concerned, it was a total distortion of the most sacred Jewish traditions. 

It is not surprising that we first meet him at the execution of Stephen, the first person to die in the name of Jesus Christ.  While Saul did not actually join in the stoning (would it have been below his dignity?), he stood by guarding the clothes of those who were stoning and clearly looked on with total approval.  In fact, he may well have been instrumental in the arrest and trial of Stephen, and have been a member of the court. 

But it is also possible that the heroic death of Stephen may well have sown the first seeds of doubt in his heart.  Who was this Jesus who could generate such total loyalty in a follower? However, he continued his campaign to wipe out what he regarded as a heretical and dangerous aberration of his Jewish faith.

Jesus, however, had other plans for Paul—big plans.

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Commentary on Philippians 4:4-9; Matthew 18:1-5

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

This is the question that the disciples put to Jesus in today’s Gospel reading.  Perhaps they had their own ideas on this—the one with the greatest leadership qualities, the most intelligent, the one with the deepest understanding of the Scriptures and the Law, the one most admired in the group, and so on. They may have been somewhat surprised by the response of Jesus. 

He called over a small child to be among them and said:

Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven [i.e. of God].

That is, unless they became like little children, they would not be ready to live their lives in accordance with what God wanted for them. 

In asking them to become a child, of course, Jesus was not calling on his disciples to be childish or temperamental. Nor, obviously, to have the mental understanding of a child.  But children, at their best, are totally open to learning; they want to know what is true and right, and they put their trust in the good judgement of their parents. 

If we are to become truly Kingdom people, we—like children—need to have that openness to what is true and right and we need to surrender ourselves totally to the Way of Jesus: 

Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus goes further—not only are his followers to have the docility, the teach-ability, of children before their Lord, but:

Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And, in the passage which follows (not included in today’s Gospel), Jesus gives dire warnings as to what will happen to people who become stumbling blocks to “little ones” so that they are blocked from coming in contact with God and his love.  These “little ones” include both innocent children, but also all those of whatever age who may easily be led astray.

This part of the reading clearly applies to Don Bosco, who dedicated his life to opening up the world of the Gospel to young people and enabling them to live lives where they made a positive contribution to their societies in truth, love and justice.

The First Reading, from the Letter of Paul to the Christians of Philippi, reflects one of the outstanding qualities of Don Bosco, his cheerful temperament and his desire to bring joy and happiness into the lives of young people, especially those who came from deprived environments. 

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone.

Today we thank God for the great work the Salesian Fathers, Brothers and Sisters continue to do for young people all over the world. And let them be an inspiration to us, too, to make what contribution we can to bettering the life of young people in our society.

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John Bosco was born in 1815 in the village of Becchi in the Piedmont district of northern Italy, and grew up on his parents’ small farm. On the death of his father when John was only two years old, his mother Margaret and her three boys found it increasingly difficult to support themselves. Even as a small boy, John had to help his brothers on the farm. He was remembered as a happy and imaginative child who liked to entertain his friends with juggling and walking on a tightrope, but would insist on beginning and ending these sessions with a prayer.

As he grew older, he began to think of becoming a priest, although poverty and lack of education seemed to rule this out. A kind priest, recognising the boy’s intelligence, taught him to read and write. By taking odd jobs in the village, and through the help of his mother and some kind neighbours, John managed to finish his schooling and was then able to enter the diocesan seminary in Turin.

As a seminarian, he devoted his spare time to looking after the poor boys who roamed through the slums of the city. Every Sunday he taught them catechism, supervised their games, and amused them with stories and tricks. His kindness soon won their confidence and they became regulars at his Sunday School.

Upon becoming a priest (and now called ‘Don’), Bosco knew very clearly in what direction his vocation was to be lived. The Industrial Revolution was spreading into Northern Italy, resulting in a great deal of poverty, turmoil and revolution on the streets of the city. Young people lived awful lives, whatever the cost to themselves or others. He was shocked at the conditions they endured and the things they did to enable them to eat, and to survive.

This was the cost of the industrial ‘improvement’ that would eventually produce the high standards people would later enjoy. The young priest, Don Bosco, clearly saw his vocation when he visited the prisons. He wrote:

“To see so many children, from 12 to 18 years of age, all healthy, strong, intelligent, lacking spiritual and material food, was something that horrified me.”

In the face of such a situation he made his decision and wrote:

“I must, by any available means, prevent children ending up here.”

He knew that a new approach was required. He needed to show there were better ways for these healthy intelligent young people to lead their lives.

Following his ordination to the priesthood in 1841 at the age of 26, he became assistant to the chaplain of an orphanage at Valocco, on the outskirts of Turin. However, he did not stay there very long. When he was refused permission to allow his Sunday School boys to play on the orphanage grounds, he resigned. He began looking for a permanent home for them, but no ‘respectable’ neighbourhood would accept the rowdy youngsters. Finally, in a rather rundown part of the city, where no one was likely to protest, the first oratory was established and named after Saint Francis de Sales.

At first, the boys got their schooling elsewhere, but as more volunteer teachers came forward, it was possible to hold classes at the oratory. Enrollment increased so rapidly that by 1849, there were three oratories in various places in the city. By now Don Bosco had been considering founding a religious congregation to carry on and expand the work. Surprisingly, this proposal was supported by a notoriously anti-clerical cabinet minister named Rattazzi. He had seen the results of John’s apostolate and, even though an Italian law forbade the founding of religious communities at that time, Rattazzi promised government support.

Don Bosco went to Rome in 1858, and at the suggestion of Pope Pius IX, drew up a rule for his new community, the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (more popularly known as the Salesians). Four years later he founded a congregation for women, the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians, to take care of abandoned girls. Finally, to supplement the work of both congregations, he organized an association of lay people interested in supporting their work.

When others talked to him of his great achievements, he would always interrupt and say:

“I have done nothing by myself. It is Our Lady who has done everything.”

Exhausted from touring Europe to raise funds for a new church in Rome, Don Bosco died on January 31, 1888, at the age of 73. He was canonised in 1934 by Pope Pius XI.

The work of John Bosco continues today in over 1,000 Salesian oratories throughout the world. He is remembered for his warmth of manner, and in his belief that to give complete trust and love is the most effective way to nourish virtue in others. His success can be summed up in the words spoken of his chosen patron, St Francis de Sales:

“The measure of his love was that he loved without measure.”

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Commentary on Wisdom 7:7-10,15-16; Matthew 23:8-12

The First Reading from the Book of Wisdom reflects very well the mind of Thomas Aquinas:

I prayed, and understanding was given me;
I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.

What is wisdom?  It is not just a vast amount of knowledge.  Wisdom involves a deep insight into the nature of things and into their relationships; it is a holistic view and understanding of our world, and of the values which govern that world.

This wisdom and insight into God and his creation was something which Thomas had in the highest degree.   He would identify, too, with the words of the writer:

I preferred her to scepters and thrones,
and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her.

What is the use of wealth and material abundance without an understanding of the meaning and direction of life? And this meaning comes to us in a unique way through Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God.  He is for us the Way—he is Truth and Life.  It is through people like Thomas Aquinas that that Word is unravelled and made clearer for us.

The Gospel reading comes from chapter 23 of Matthew in which Jesus denounces the pride and arrogance of the Pharisees.  In doing so, Jesus is not attacking every Pharisee because many of them were good people (we think of Nicodemus in John’s Gospel and Gamaliel in the Acts of the Apostles). Rather, it is a denunciation of an attitude or state of mind which was undoubtedly found among some Jewish Pharisees, but was also found in the early Christian communities (not to mention later communities down to our own day). Part of this attitude was a sense of superiority over others indicated by the demand to be addressed by certain titles like ‘Teacher’ or ‘Father’ or ‘Master’.  

It seems that there were people in Matthew’s community who expected to be addressed in this way.  But in Christian communities we need to remember that we have only one Father, one Lord, one Teacher and one Master—the Divine Father with his Incarnate Son. 

In spite of his great learning and his being regularly called on to give advice to popes and kings, Thomas Aquinas shunned all such titles.  At different times, he declined being made Archbishop of Naples and Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy and, in spite of the powerful and educated circles in which he worked, he led a simple life.   He is an example for people at all levels of our Church.

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Thomas Aquinas was born in 1224 at his father Count Landulph’s castle of Roccasecca in the Kingdom of Sicily, in the present-day Regione Lazio. Through his mother, Theodora Countess of Theate, Aquinas was related to the Hohenstaufen dynasty of Holy Roman emperors. An uncle was abbot of the original Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino, and his family hoped that Thomas would follow in his footsteps.

It was while studying at the University of Naples that he came under the influence of the Dominicans, who with the Franciscans, were introducing radical changes in church life.  His family was not happy with this development and actually imprisoned him in his parents’ castle for one year.  Eventually, through the intervention of Pope Innocent IV, he joined the Dominican Order.

His superiors immediately saw his aptitude for theological study and he was sent in 1244 to Cologne to study under Albert the Great, also a Dominican, and who, in the coming years, would have a great influence on his development.  The following year, Thomas and Albert went to the University of Paris and lectured there on theology and philosophy for three years.  In 1248, he returned to Cologne, where he was appointed second lecturer and magister studentium (master of students), which saw the beginning of his writing and public life.  He also incorporated the philosophy of Aristotle into his studies.

In 1256, Aquinas, along with his Franciscan friend Bonaventure, was named doctor of theology and began to lecture on theology in Paris and Rome and in other Italian towns.  This involved a great amount of tiring travel as he was also called on to advise popes on affairs of state.  Throughout the ensuing years he was constantly involved in the public business of the Church.

From 1269 to 1271, he was again in Paris but then returned to being a professor in Naples. Aquinas preached every day, wrote homilies, disputations, and gave lectures. He also worked diligently on his great literary work, the Summa Theologiae. He was invited to become archbishop of Naples and abbot of Monte Cassino but declined both. He was described by contemporaries as being “a pure person, humble, simple, peace-loving, given to contemplation, moderate, a lover of poetry” as well as known for the depth of his thinking. 

Early impressions that he was not a good speaker led him to be nicknamed “The Dumb Ox”.  Albert, his teacher, strongly refuted this: “You call him ‘a dumb ox,’ but I declare before you that he will yet bellow so loud in doctrine that his voice will resound through the whole world.”

In appearance Aquinas had a dark complexion, large head and receding hairline and was on the stout side. People described him as refined, affable and lovable and his tastes simple. Towards the end of his life he felt deeply dissatisfied with the quality of his work. His last words on December 6, 1273, were said to have been:

“Such secrets have been revealed to me that all I have written now appears as so much straw.”

In January 1274, Pope Gregory X told Aquinas to attend the Second Council of Lyons. Although in failing health, he began the journey. On the way, he became seriously ill at the castle of a niece.  He wanted to end his days in a religious house but was unable to reach a Dominican house.  Instead he was taken to the Cistercian monastery at Fossa Nuova, about 100 km south-east of Rome.  Seven weeks later he died on March 7, 1274.

On July 18, 1323, Pope John XXII pronounced Aquinas a saint. In 1567, Pope Pius V ranked him with four great Latin fathers: Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory.  His Summa Theologiae was deemed so important that at the Council of Trent, it was placed on the altar beside the Bible and the council documents.  In 1879, Pope Leo XIII decreed that all Catholic seminaries and universities must teach Aquinas’ doctrines and in 1880, Aquinas was declared patron of all Catholic educational establishments. 

His feast is now celebrated on January 28, the date when the Summa Theologiae was published.  Formerly it was on March 7, the date of his death. The works for which he is best remembered are the Summa Theologiae and the Summa Contra Gentiles. He is considered by many Catholics to be the Church’s greatest theologian and philosopher.

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Timothy was born at Lystra, in the province of Pisidia (modern Turkey). He was the son of a Greek father and his mother, Eunice, was a convert from Judaism. When Paul preached at Lystra during his first missionary journey in the area, Timothy joined him and replaced Barnabas, with whom Paul had some differences over Barnabas’ cousin,  John Mark.

Timothy soon became a close friend, confidant and partner of Paul in his missionary apostolate. In order to placate the Jewish Christians, Paul agreed to Timothy’s being circumcised. This was because Timothy’s mother had been Jewish and, for the Jews, it was the religion of the mother which was decisive. Timothy then accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:1—18:22).

When Paul was forced to flee Berea, in northern Greece, because of the hostility of the local Jews, Timothy stayed on (Acts 17:13), but soon after he was sent to nearby Thessalonica to report on the condition of the Christians there, and to encourage them under persecution. This report led to Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians when he joined Timothy at Corinth in southern Greece.

In 58 AD, Timothy was sent with Erastus north to Macedonia, but then went south to Corinth to remind the Corinthians of Paul’s teaching. He then accompanied Paul into Macedonia and Achaia. They were probably together when Paul was imprisoned at Caesarea and later in Rome. He was himself also imprisoned, but then freed.

According to tradition, Timothy went to Ephesus in western Turkey, became its first bishop, and was stoned to death there when he opposed the pagan festival of Katagogian in honour of the goddess Diana.

There are two letters reputedly written by Paul to Timothy, one written about 65 AD from Macedonia and the second from Rome, while Paul was in prison awaiting execution. Commentators today doubt (on the basis of style and content) that Paul could have written these letters. Nevertheless, they do reflect his teaching.

Titus was a disciple and companion of Paul, and one of Paul’s letters is addressed to him. Again, modern commentators doubt if Paul was really the writer, as it was common in those days for writings to carry the name of a well-known person as the author.

In the letter, Paul refers to Titus as “my true child in the faith we share”. Although not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, Titus is mentioned in the Letter to the Galatians (2:1-3), where Paul writes of going to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus.

Titus was then sent off to Corinth in southern Greece, where he successfully restored harmony between that Christian community and Paul, its founder, who had some differences with them. Titus was later left on the island of Crete to help organize the Church there, although he soon went to Dalmatia, in Croatia.

According to Eusebius of Caesarea in the Ecclesiastical History, Titus served as the first Bishop of Crete. He was buried in Cortyna (Gortyna), Crete. His head was later transferred to Venice at the time of the Saracen invasion of Crete in year 832 and enshrined there in St. Mark’s Church.

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Francis de Sales was born at Thorens, in the Duchy of Savoy on 21 August, 1567, the eldest of six brothers from aristocratic parents. He went to the colleges of La Roche and Annecy, and then for five years at the College of Clermont, Paris, under the care of the Jesuits. While studying theology, he developed serious scruples about the much discussed Calvinist issue of predestination from which he was freed while praying to Our Lady.  As a result, he made a vow of chastity and consecrated himself to Our Lady. His father selected one of the noblest heiresses of Savoy to be his future wife, but Francis declared his intention of embracing the ecclesiastical life. The Bishop of Geneva obtained for Francis the position of Provost of the Chapter of Geneva, a post in the patronage of the pope. It was the highest office in the diocese and Francis was ordained priest in 1593.

At Annecy, the seat of the bishopric of Geneva, the new provost devoted himself to preaching, hearing confessions, and the other work of his ministry. He was instrumental in bringing many people back to the Church from Calvinism, which had its centre in Geneva. The bishop, Claude de Granier, then chose an unwilling Francis as his coadjutor and sent him to Rome in 1599.  Pope Clement VIII ratified the choice.  On the death of de Granier, Francis was consecrated Bishop of Geneva in 1602, where he proved himself an extraordinary zealous and pastoral bishop. His goodness, patience and mildness became proverbial. He had an intense love for the poor, and himself lived a life of extreme simplicity in order to provide more for those in need.

Together with St Jane Frances de Chantal, in 1607 he founded the Institute of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin, for young girls and widows who felt they did not have the strength or inclination for the greater austerities of the older orders. Here, he came into contact with all the distinguished ecclesiastics of the day, and in particular with St Vincent de Paul.

In 1622, he had to go with the Court of Savoy into France. At Lyons, he insisted on occupying a small, poorly furnished room in a house belonging to the gardener of the Visitation Convent. There, on 27 December, he experienced some form of stroke.  His last words were: “God’s will be done! Jesus, my God and my all!”  He died on 28 December, in the fifty-sixth year of his age.

During the French Revolution his heart was brought by Visitation nuns from Lyons to Venice, where it is venerated today. He was beatified in 1661, and canonised by Pope Alexander VII in 1665.  He was proclaimed Doctor of the Universal Church by Pope Pius IX in 1877. Among his many writings, his Introduction to the Devout Life became a classic of spiritual direction and is still read.

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Agnes was martyred at the end of the persecution of the Roman emperor Diocletian, probably in the early years of the 4th century.  She is thought to have been between 12 and 15 years of age.  It is clear that her death was the result of a determination to preserve her virginity.  The Church, following the teaching of St Paul, had considered a state of virginity or celibacy preferable, in itself, to a state of marriage. And of the many virgin martyrs in Rome, few were held in greater esteem than Agnes by the early Church.

Very few details of Agnes’ life are known.  However, in the ancient Roman calendar of the feasts of the martyrs (Depositio Martyrum), her feast is listed on 21 January.  This record also mentions the name of the road (Via Nomentana) near which her grave was said to be located. 

Today, in the Latin Church, the same date is still observed for her feast. Although few reliable details of how she met her death are recorded in writing, Church writers and poets praised her virginity and heroism under torture.  On only one point does there seem to be agreement: she was very young when she gave her life to preserve her integrity.  St Ambrose says she was just 12; St Augustine says she was 13.  Damasus even describes her as going to her martyrdom from the lap of her mother or nurse.  She is among the women saints commemorated in the Roman Canon.

The name ‘Agnes’ comes from the Latin word for ‘lamb’ (agna), so traditionally on this feast, the wool from two lambs is presented annually as a tax by the Lateran Canons Regular in Rome to the Chapter of St John.  They are solemnly blessed on the high altar of the church after a pontifical Mass and then offered to the Pope.  This wool goes into the making of the pallium, which only the pope and archbishops are entitled to wear over their liturgical vestments.

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This common feast commemorates 67 Jesuit martyrs who died in religious conflicts after the Reformation and have been beatified.  Most were French and some were Portuguese.

Fr Jacques (James) Salés and Brother Guillaume (William) Saultemouche, both French, died in Aubenas, France, in February 1593 during France’s War of Religion.

Jacques Salés wanted to be a missionary and wrote Father General Claudio Acquaviva to be accepted anywhere – America, China or Japan. The response was negative; Father General reminded him that France itself was a mission territory, given the conflict between Catholics and Huguenots (French Calvinists).

Brother William Saultemouche (1557-1593) served as porter at Pont-à-Mousson, and was known for his simplicity and gentle character. He was chosen to accompany Fr Jacques Salés on a mission to give sermons in Aubenas, a town that the Catholics had regained control of from the Huguenots. The Baron of Montréal wanted someone who could refute the Calvinist ministers. Salés began preaching in Aubenas and other places on 29 November, 1592, explaining Catholic belief in an ecumenical way. He returned with Saultemouche on 5 February, 1593, because tension between Catholics and Huguenots was increasing.  On the same day they were grilled by Huguenots to deny their faith, but refused.  They were shot and stabbed and their bodies dragged through Aubenas and then dumped.  Catholics retrieved the bodies and buried them.

Fr Joseph Imbert and Fr John-Nicholas Cordier, also French, died on prison ships in Rochefort in 1794 during the French Revolution.

Joseph Imbert was born about 1720 in Marseilles, France, and joined the Jesuits in Avignon.  He was in Grenoble when the Jesuits were suppressed in 1762.  He became a diocesan priest, but had to step down when he refused to accept the 1790 Civil Constitution on the Clergy, and then worked underground.  As vicar apostolic, he was arrested in 1793 during the Reign of Terror.  He was condemned to be deported on a former slave ship to Africa.  On 13 April, he was put on a prison ship anchored near the Charante River.  Four hundred priests were crammed below decks in appalling conditions.  After two months Joseph died of typhoid.  He was buried on a nearby island with 226 other priest-victims.

John Nicholas Cordier was born in 1710 in Souilly, in the Duchy of Lorraine, and joined the Jesuits in 1728.  He taught philosophy at Strasbourg and then theology at Pont-à-Mousson. He later was prefect of studies and superior of the Jesuit residence in Saint-Mihiel. After the Jesuits were suppressed, he became chaplain to a convent of nuns.

In 1790, the government suppressed all religious orders in France and Cordier was taken in by and accepted shelter from a priest in Verdun. On 28 October, 1793, he was arrested and ordered to be deported.  He waited for six months to be sent to Africa and, on 19 June, 1794, was put on a slave ship which could not leave because of an English blockade.  The living conditions were beyond endurance.  When Cordier became ill, he was moved to a temporary hospital, which was better than the ship, but he died there and was buried with 254 other victims.

Fr Ignatius de Azevedo, born in Portugal, and 39 Jesuit companions were martyred off the Canary Islands in July 1570, while sailing for the Brazil mission.

Ignatius de Azevedo had been an educationalist in Portugal when Fr General Francis Borgia made him Visitor to Brazil, where he arrived in 1566.  He was then made Provincial of Brazil and told to recruit more missionaries from Portugal and Spain.  He gathered 70 volunteers – priests, scholastics and even novices.  On 5 June, 1570, they left in eight ships passing by the Canary Islands.  Fr Azevedo was on a ship with 43 companions.  Approaching Sta Cruz de La Palma, they were intercepted by French Huguenot pirates.  The pirates boarded the missionaries’ ship and set about killing all in cassocks, beginning with Ignatius.  Only one Jesuit survived because he could cook.  When the ship reached La Rochelle in France, he escaped and brought the news to Portugal.

James Julius Bonnaud, born in 1740, was a native of Haiti who joined the Jesuits in France in 1758.  After his theology studies and ordination in Flanders, he returned to Paris to work in the diocese. He wrote against the revolutionaries and their anti-papal Civil Constitutions, making himself a target for the revolutionaries.

As it progressed, the French Revolution became rabidly anti-Catholic.  Property was seized, religious orders suppressed. Priests were then required to sign an oath for a national church independent of Rome, with severe penalties for those who refused.  Then on 2 September, 1792, with invading Prussians and Austrians near the gates of the city, the Paris Commissar decided to kill all priests.  Among those martyred were James Bonnaud and 13 other Jesuits among 95 priests at a Carmelite friary.  They were locked into a chapel and, those who refused to sign the oath, were thrown down a flight of stairs to a mob who attacked them with all kinds of weapons.  Altogether, fourteen Jesuits were martyred. With James Bonnaud were: William Anthony Delfaud, Francis Balmain, Charles Berauld du Perou, Claude Cayx-Dumas, John Charton de Millou, James Friteyre-Durve, Claude Laporte, Mathurin Le Bous de Villeneuve, Claude Le Gue, Vincent Le Rousseau de Rosancoat, Loup Thomas-Bonnotte and Francis Vareilhe-Duteil.

These fourteen Jesuits, with nine others, were beatified by Pope Pius XI on 17 October, 1926, together with 168 other French priests.

These martyrs are remembered for their fidelity to Christ, their allegiance to the Catholic Church, and their sufferings at the hands of fellow Christians and fellow citizens.

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Commentary on Ephesians 6:10-13,18; Matthew 19:16-26

Both the chosen readings reflect experiences in Anthony’s life.  The First Reading from the Letter to the Ephesians speaks of equipping ourselves with the armour we need to protect ourselves against the insidious urgings to indulge our lower appetites.  In spite of a life devoted to austerity and prayer, Anthony was faced with many urgings to an easier and more pleasure-filled way of life.  But following the teaching of the reading, he put on “the whole amour of God” and eventually came out victorious.  Temptations are almost necessary if we are to develop a vigorous faith.  St Paul elsewhere speaks of training like an athlete to develop his spiritual life.  A life without resistance, challenges and discipline will not have real strength.

The Gospel is the story of the rich man who asked Jesus what he needed to do to earn eternal life.  All he needed to do, Jesus said, was to keep the commandments of the Law.  But the man pushed further, “Which ones?” he asked. Jesus listed the fourth (respecting parents), the sixth (no adultery), the seventh (no stealing), the eighth (no false accusations against people) and lastly, loving the neighbour as oneself.  Interestingly, the fifth commandment is not cited.  This man was unlikely to be guilty of such a thing. 

What is interesting is that all the commandments Jesus mentions are directed to the well-being of others.  Commandments directly related to God are not mentioned.  In reply, the man claimed that he had observed all of the commandments cited by Jesus.  What else could be required of him? Jesus told 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.

On hearing this, the man became very downcast:

…he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Jesus had called his bluff.  All those commandments he claimed to be keeping, he only observed as the fulfilment of laws which put him on the right side with God.  He was not really concerned about the well-being of brothers and sisters in real need.

As he went away, Jesus told his disciples:

Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

The disciples were utterly shocked at Jesus’ words.  If the rich cannot get into God’s Kingdom, then who can be saved?  Their thinking reflected the conviction of most people of their time.  Wealth was a sign of God’s blessings; poverty was punishment for sin. The rich man would have thought the same.

In order to make sense of Jesus’ teaching we have to clarify two points.  First, what is meant here by ‘rich’.  To be rich in the Gospel (and indeed in the eyes of many people today) is to have lots of wealth, lots more than ‘ordinary’ people.  It means having surplus wealth when people around you are in dire need.  Second, the ‘Kingdom’ or ‘Reign’ of God is not referring to ‘heaven’ (although in Matthew’s text he speaks about the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’).  The Kingdom of God exists in this world wherever people are living their lives in the way God wants them to live them, and that means loving one another as Jesus has loved each one.  And that can only happen when all reach out to each other and ensure that all have what they need for a full life.  That is what we mean when we pray:

Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Later, Jesus’ disciples will understand this, and will live and preach it.  And Anthony, whose feast we are celebrating today, took Jesus’ words literally and spent the rest of his life living with the absolute minimum and spending himself on both the spiritual and material welfare of those in all kinds of need. 

Perhaps we are not in a position to follow literally in his footsteps, but his life is a serious challenge to each one of us to evaluate the ownership and use of material goods in our own lives, and to what extent we live our lives with an eye on those in need.