The readings today condense much of the Scriptures to “the one thing necessary.” In the Gospel the rich young man asks Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. When the young man says, I have kept them all my life, Jesus tells him that he is lacking in one thing: “Go sell what you have and give to the poor. Our immediate response is that this is not possible. We know that the first Christians did not take this literally; they did not all go out and sell their possessions. In fact, Matthew’s Gospel qualifies the saying by having Jesus say, “If you would be perfect, go sell …”
What are we supposed to get out of this passage? Most of us are perhaps like the rich young man. We keep the commandments. We are not guilty of terribly bad actions but we may at times be very complacent. We may wonder if that is all we are supposed to do. At times like this we need to remember the words of Wisdom: “I pleaded and the spirit of wisdom came upon me and in her company all good things.” Jesus is the embodiment of God’s wisdom and he says to us, “One more thing you must do.” It may be that he is calling us to greater self-giving. It may be something as simple as reconciling with a brother or sister, doing some volunteer work, being more patient with those who annoy us, more generous in sharing of our time and resources. In short, He says to us one more thing you must do; in short he, calls us to greater self-giving.
Lord Jesus, you gave yourself completely on the cross for us. Give us the grace and strength to give more generously of ourselves for others.
Fr. Henry Rebello SAC
Communion Cups and Chalice
On behalf of St. Valentine Parish, we would like to extend a very special thank you to Linda and Bob Rybka for their donation of four very beautiful gold “Communion Cups” and Chalice. From now on we will be using these new cups. These cups are donated in memory of Bob Rybka’s mother, Helen Rybka. We thank the Rybka’s for their generosity. God Bless you.
Workers Needed Please!!!
Our Fall Rummage sale is one week away, please help us, we need workers on Friday, October 16th from 7 AM- 7 PM and Saturday, October 17th from 9 AM to 2 PM, if you are working on Saturday all workers need to be in the school gym by 8:30 AM. Anyone that would like to work can call me on 313-531-3220.
We need YOU in order to make this a successful fundraiser for the church. Thank you and God Bless!
Cecilia Gallagher – Rummage Sale Coordinator