Meditation of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa: XXVIII Sunday Of Ordinary Time

Below you can find the Meditation of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, for the XXVIII Sunday Of Ordinary Time, Sunday 13 October 2024.

Mk 10:17-30

Today's Gospel passage (Mk 10:17-30) recounts an encounter of a person who ran to Jesus, as he was setting out, and sought to dialogue with him.

Let us consider the outcome of this encounter: “...his face fell, and he went away sad,” (Mk 10:22):

The outcome, then, is sadness.

But why does the encounter between Jesus and this fellow end like this?

We are used to thinking that our sadness depends on something we lack: we deceive ourselves by thinking that if we have enough of what we desire, we will be happy.

This is precisely the serpent’s deceit described in the story of original sin (Gen. 3).

The serpent deceived Eve and Adam by making them believe that for them to be happy and truly be alive, they must possess everything without any limits; there can be nothing that is forbidden to them, and they must not lack.

The serpent's cunning lies precisely in making what we lack seem essential and irreplaceable for our happiness and fulfillment in life.

Thus, the result of sin is the inability to find joy in what we already possess, leaving us perpetually longing for something else, for what we lack, trapped in an endless cycle of pursuing new accomplishments as life passes by.

For Jesus, life is exactly the opposite. 

When the man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus responds by pointing out that he is indeed lacking in one thing: "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." (Mark 10:21).

However, what he lacks isn't an additional possession but rather a relationship to embrace and the ability to create space for it.

This is what the Lord offers this person: a relationship in which he feels looked upon and loved not because of what one does, nor possesses, but because of an original gift that is given to us before any possible response (“…looking at him, loved him...” - Mk 10:21)…

This Meditation was originally published on the website of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Please click here to read the full text.