8th Monday Ordinary Time

“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Since the dawn of monastic life, that was the question posed by a disciple to his master: “Master, what must I do to be saved?” Most masters would respond like Jesus, offering a moral answer: “Do this and not that and you shall be saved”. But this was not enough for the rich man. The rich man was already rich in virtues, he already led a moral life. “All of these I have observed since my youth”, said he, full of love. And Jesus, looking at him with even more love, said to him: “My son, if the moral life is no longer enough for you, there is only one thing left, one thing even loftier: pure love. Leave everything behind and follow your bliss. Follow the blazing love burning in your heart and you shall be saved”. Unfortunately, that is here when our love history becomes a tragedy. For our rich man, that was too much. Too much love, too much coherence, too much authenticity. And he preferred to embrace the poor riches that he already knew and so, become an even poorer man. Alas, this story is much more common than we would like to think. Jesus keeps calling people like that until our days. Each one of us carries an inner bliss inside our hearts – a vocation that, when heard and followed, makes our life risky – risky in God. And that is the only way that we can be truly happy and saved, with meaningful lives – when we risk everything for God’s sake. May we discover this bliss inside us in order to become truly blessed disciples of Jesus Christ.