In today’s Gospel, our Lord is teaching us about Free Will and how we can use it to live a life with God. The Psalm so eloquently says at the end: “from distress you will preserve me; with glad cries of freedom, you will ring me round. Let the just exult and rejoice in the Lord.” What a poetic picture today of the saints in heaven living in the fullness of freedom and love, reunited with their Father whom they chose to love so well here on earth.
Free Will
The idea of free will is often spoken of but never really explained as a very dear gift of Love from the Father to us. Without freedom, we cannot choose to love and when we do not choose it, it isn’t really love. The Father lovingly gave us our free will so that we could truly choose Him here now and turn ourselves fully to him. Once we give ourselves completely to Him in our will, that freedom is like being at the end of a tunnel with a light on and all we can see is Him. Isn’t it so beautiful? Nothing blocks our way to the Father. Christ today gives us a front row seat on how to discover this path and have the same shelter on earth that those rejoicing in heaven have found in today’s readings.
“Jesus became poor although he is rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich” is the Alleluia exclamation today. Jesus became poor? What does this mean? He was born poor, wasn’t he? Only if you see the word ‘poor’ as lacking in material goods, but today’s Gospel is really not about material wealth or money. More importantly, it is about attachments. It is about the “many possessions” of this world, and a call, an invitation, for detaching from them. Spiritually, this is a formula for how to wholly attach ourselves to God, our Creator, who made us and wants us to always be with Him. When our heart is taken up with other things, material or otherwise, there is no room for Him. We cannot really love because we stay weighed down by all that is not He. We have not yet experienced true freedom in love.
The Lesson
“Good teacher, what must we do to inherit eternal life?” The young man responded that he followed the commandments, wasn’t that enough? Our Lord saw that the Commandments were a good guide to moral life, but no, it was not enough. First this: “He looked at him and Loved him.” then He said, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come follow me.” Your heart is not attached to me!! You are attached to your things, your opinions, your comfort, your ways…. You are not attached to me. “Go, (choose to) give away those things that you are attached to and then (be free) to come follow me.”
“The young man went away sad for he had many possessions.” His pride was more important. He did not want to give it up for God, for the good, or for love. The man chose himself. He wanted what he wanted, how he wanted it and so he went away without joy. He said NO to joy?! What are we holding onto that we are not willing to give up? This is the lesson, the defining line of our deeper spiritual life with God. We cannot hold onto things not of God. We have to let go or we cannot find true freedom. But how???
The Gift of Free Will
God made us in his image and gave us a wonderful gift, a gift of Love so that we could truly love and fill our heart with Him. That gift is free will that the Psalm referred to. Free Will is a very powerful thing. We can use it to hold on and walk away from God sadly. Or, we can use it as a powerhouse and say Yes, I want You over everything else. I choose you! I give up everything else, no matter what! Every moment, every day.
Detaching from our own things or habits that lead us away for the good, is the first step and a practice which we can acquire through prayer, grace and by the words, “I will everything that you want Lord.” Living the spiritual life is not just following the Commandments but forming habits from using our will to choose the good; and acquiring the disposition of the Beatitudes that will help us to become more like Christ. “Jesus became poor…so that we could become rich.” This poverty is meekness, poverty of spirit, a disposition that allows us to live in true freedom and intimately in the Divine Will and opens our heart to be filled with grace.
Choose
Over and over in the Gospels, you will see subtle choices being made in all the different characters. Christ calls, they choose. Yes, I will follow your path, or no, I want to follow my own path. “Blessed are the Poor of Spirit, for they shall see God.” This is the treasure we will find in heaven; we will see God. But we do not have to wait for heaven. Today, now, we can see God.
When we learn true abandonment, we detach ourselves and attach to Him. We let Him do it. Do this first by choosing to do it. We use our free will over and over to give ourselves to God. I choose to humble myself and sit next to this person. Or, I choose to humble myself and do this menial task. I choose to go and pray. And, I choose to overcome this bad habit and say no. I choose to go to bed now when it is best for tomorrow to be a good day. I choose to follow you in all the practical little ways of my day that mortify myself for love of you.
The Kingdom of Heaven
His disciples asked: “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For men it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.” The rich young man went away sad, not really because of his earthly possessions, but because he did not fill his heart with God or the good and the beautiful that He offered to him, but we can.
This Lent ask yourself what is blocking you from seeing the light in the tunnel? Are you filling your day with beauty and goodness? The desert was a place of peace, silence, and beauty, not just deprivation. Put real things in your path this Lent, do not just take away. Hang great art or hike in nature. Begin something renewing like watercolors, music, or enriching literature. Do not be deprived but replace attachments with things that uplift your soul and mind. Live in the desert as a place of peace so that when the Resurrection comes, you are ready. The Gospel said, “No one is good but God alone.” Choose day by day anew what you want to seek and do with your time and family. Saying yes will only get easier once you learn to love what is real, good, and beautiful. It is easier to find the “eye of the needle” if you place your hope in the Lord. “Yes, I choose You! Thank you for my beautiful gift of free will. It is truly amazing.” I feel refreshed and no longer weighed down like the rich young man.
