October 10, 2021, Sunday, 28th Week in Ordinary Time

Wis 7:7-11

Ps 90

Heb 4:12-13

Mk 10:17-30

We could unify the whole liturgy of the Word of today's celebration with a single word: “wisdom”. Wisdom is a gift from God: the inspired author obtains it by praying for it. Once he has obtained it, he prefers it over everything, esteems it, loves it and realizes that he has received all other goods together with it.

I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.

I preferred her to scepter and throne, and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire. Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, and I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep.

Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.

Wisdom, which is both God’s gift and his attribute, totally penetrates man and changes his heart: it transforms his heart of stone, changing it into a heart of flesh capable of discerning, of exulting in the Lord’s goodness, of working righteously in his service, of recognizing his own human frailty by living in the fear of the Lord and entrusting himself completely to him:

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. Make us glad, for the days when you afflicted us, for the years when we saw evil. Let your work be seen by your servants and your glory by their children; and may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands! (Ps 90)

In his great condescension, “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe” (Heb 1:1-2), the Word, the living and effective Word of God, eternal Wisdom of the Father, became flesh and has dwelt among us:

Brothers and sisters:

Indeed the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

In the Gospel, we see the Word of God, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, who goes on his way, drawing crowds and arousing in one man’s heart the desire to follow him:

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.” He replied and said to him, “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “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.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. (Mk 10:17-22).

A passing enthusiasm, a fragile desire to do good, a heart that has not become wise, a mind that does not consider his riches as nothing compared to following Christ. The result is obvious: his face fell, and he went away sad.

He is spoken of as the “rich young man”, but the Gospel only says “a man”, without specifying his age, without giving him a name. Many other rich people were attracted by Jesus and we know their names: Zacchaeus, Matthew, Joseph of Arimathea, Giovanna, Susanna - the women who assisted him with their possessions during his public life - and still others, all people who had wealth at their disposition yet did not attach their hearts to it. These people believed that all gold, in view of her [Wisdom], is a bit of sand, and before her [Wisdom], silver is to be accounted mire.

Even if this year 10 October falls on a Sunday and thus we cannot celebrate the liturgical memorial of a saint, we cannot forget the great bishop Saint Daniel Comboni, in whom the sapientia crucis shone intensely through his total self-giving and an extraordinary love for the African people. On October 10, 1881, he died of cholera in Khartoum at the age of fifty. His motto: Either Africa or death tells us something of his total dedication to his missionary vocation. The Church owes it to him, through his Plan for the Regeneration of Africa, if a profound evangelization has taken place on that continent:

Homily in Khartoum (Translated from Arabic by Fr Carcereri) Khartoum, May 11, 1873.

I am truly happy, dearest friends, to be back with you again after so many sad events and so many sighs of affliction. The first love of my youth was for unhappy Africa and, leaving behind all that was dearest to me in the world, I came, sixteen years ago, to these lands to offer my work for the relief of their age-old sufferings. Subsequently, I was called back home since for health reasons the swamps of the White Nile in the vicinity of the Holy Cross and Gondokoro had reduced apostolic action to impotence. I departed through obedience: but I left my heart in your midst and, when I recovered, as God willed, my concerns and activities were always focused on you.

Today, at last taking back my heart by returning among you, I open it up in your presence with the sublime and religious sentiment of the spiritual paternity with which God willed me to be vested a year ago now by the supreme Head of the Catholic Church, our Lord Pope Pius IX. Yes, I am now your Father, and you are my children and as such, for the first time I embrace you and press you to my heart.

I am most grateful for all the enthusiastic welcomes you have shown me; they demonstrate your filial love and have persuaded me that you will always want to be my joy and my crown, just as you are my lot and my legacy.

Rest assured that my soul responds to this with unlimited love forever and for each one of you. I have returned among you never again to cease being yours and all consecrated for your greater good in eternity. Come day come night, come sun come rain, I shall always be equally ready to serve your spiritual needs: the rich and the poor, the healthy and the sick, the young and the old, the masters and the servants will always have equal access to my heart. Your good will be mine and your sorrows will also be mine.

I make common cause with each one of you, and the happiest day in my life will be the one on which I will be able to give my life for you. – I am not unaware of the weight of the burden I have to carry, since as shepherd, teacher and doctor to your souls I shall have to watch over you, educate you and correct you: defend the oppressed without hurting the oppressors, reproach errors without antagonizing those who err, denounce scandals and sins without ceasing to show compassion to sinners, seek out the corrupt without weakening to vice; in a word, be a father and a judge at the same time. But I am resigned to this in the hope that you will all help me to carry this burden with happiness and joy in the name of God. […]

And now finally, I turn to you, O merciful Queen of Africa, and appealing once again to you, loving Mother of this Vicariate Apostolic of Central Africa which is entrusted to my care, I make bold to implore you solemnly to receive under your protection myself and my children and to guard us from evil and lead us to good.

O Mary, Mother of God, the great people of Africa sleeps for the most part in the darkness and shadow of death; hasten the hour of their salvation, remove the obstacles, disperse their enemies, prepare their hearts and always send new apostles to these remote lands which are so unhappy and in need.

My children, on this solemn day I commit you to the devotion of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and as I offer for you the most acceptable of sacrifices to Almighty God, I humbly entreat him to pour the blood of redemption over your souls, to regenerate them, to heal them and refine them in accordance with your needs, that this holy Mission may bring you the fruits of salvation, and to God glory. Amen.