“The school of Christ is the school of charity. On the last day, when the general examination takes place, there will be no question at all on the text of Aristotle, the aphorisms of Hippocrates, or the paragraphs of Justinian. Charity will be the whole syllabus.”

“Hell is not a subject to be avoided; it is a place to be avoided. Thinking about Hell is actually a very good idea. It’s a good way to keep ourselves out of it.” - Dale Ahlquist: (is an author, public speaker, Evangelical convert to Catholicism, and Catholic apologist.)

Gospel Text: (MT 19:16-22)

A young man approached Jesus and said,
"Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?"
He answered him, "Why do you ask me about the good?
There is only One who is good.
If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."
He asked him, "Which ones?"
And Jesus replied, "You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
honor your father and your mother;
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
The young man said to him,
"All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?"
Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me."
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad,
for he had many possessions.

What every Christian vocation does have in common with every other is to seek “to be perfect”. In fact, Jesus commands us elsewhere to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. That might seem an impossibly lofty goal, were we not to understand the meaning of the word “perfect”. From the Latin, it could be loosely translated as “to become what one is”, or in other words, “to become what one is meant to be.” God is perfectly God without any trouble. We humans, on the other hand, have lots of trouble. God “designed” each human person, and calls each human person, to spend himself in love for others, and above all, for God Himself as the ineffable Other. However God may ask you to accomplish this, give thanks for His call.