Behold I do not give lectures or a little charity, When I give I give myself. - Walt Whitman: (1819 – 1892: was an American poet, essayist, and journalist)
Gospel Text: (MK 10:28-31)
Peter began to say to Jesus,
'We have given up everything and followed you."
Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first."
'We have given up everything and followed you."
Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first."
Jesus explains that both in this world and the next, a disciple’s sacrifice bears fruit. In “this present age”, material sacrifices are compensated by the superabundance of the Church’s graces and charisms. All the more, “in the age to come”, the consequence of following Jesus is eternal life. Jesus’ logic lays bare what St. Francis of Assisi expressed in his canticle: “It is in giving that we receive, and in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
Jesus then sums things up. “Many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.” Jesus seems to respond to Peter by saying: in loving your God and your neighbor first, you are putting God and neighbor first, and yourself last. But in opening ourselves by the act of loving, we are opening our hearts and minds to receiving divine love from God and His Church.
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