March 17, 2015
The Rich Official
A reading from the Gospel of Saint Luke 18, 18 – 23:
An official asked him this question, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother.'” And he replied, “All of these I have observed from my youth.” When Jesus heard this he said to him, “There is still one thing left for you, sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when he heard this he became quite sad, for he was very rich.
We had another fierce winter storm yesterday and today. The storm ended this afternoon and the sun came out. We received nearly a foot of snow (about 20 cm). The roads are not cleared yet and of course my driveway is not cleared. There is a snowbank at my back door once again. I pray that these snowstorm will end now. There is still plenty of snow on the ground here and soon it will be springtime so it should disappear in the next few weeks.
Below you will find the message of Our Lord and Savior given to Father Melvin. Jesus spoke to him these words,
“I hope that you are ready to do what I ask you to do My brother Melvin and all My brothers and sisters who accept Me as your Redeemer. In the parable of the rich official you see that this man was an observer of all the commandments, but when I told him to give away to the poor all he had and to come and follow Me, he refused because he was rich. It is a fact that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter heaven for he is attached to his money. All believers of mine should be ready to do all that I ask of them. If I call you to be a priest or a religious, you should be ready to accept this call and to follow it. I call the twelve Apostles and they all agreed to follow Me although one of them turned against Me and sold Me for thirty pierces of silver. The others however followed Me all their lives and all of them except one are martyrs, who gave their lives out of love for Me. Be ready My friends to give up everything you have in order to follow My call. If you do so then you surely will be in heaven with Me one day. Do not be like this rich official who could not give up his money out of love for Me. I bless you all.”
Father Melvin