Ordinary 28

by Paul O'Reilly, SJ

"How hard it is for those who have riches to enter
into the Kingdom of God!"

There used to be a tradition in Ireland that at a
christening the godparents would give the newly
baptized infant a little silver christening cup. But
when my mother was asked to be godmother to my cousin
Catherine, she didn't have the money to get it immediately.
But eventually it was bought. And then it had to be
engraved. And then it had to be polished. And then I
think if we are honest, it got a little bit forgotten
about, gathering dust on a shelf.

Then my family moved to another part of the country.
And then Catherine's family moved to the other end of
the country. So, in the end, what with life, the
universe and everything, Catherine finally got to
receive her little silver cup at her fifth birthday
party. It was suitably presented to her all nicely
wrapped up with flowery paper. And, being a very well
brought-up young lady, Catherine was very pleased to
get it and said "Thank You" very nicely. And the
birthday party went on.

After perhaps a couple of hours, Catherine's best
friend picked up the silver cup and said how much she
liked it. Catherine, without another thought, gave it
to her. But Catherine's mother was shocked and
scandalised. You don’t give away your christening cup
­ not ever! And certainly not after you’ve just spent
five years waiting for it and the giver is still in
the room!

Immediately she intervened, took the cup back from
Catherine’s best friend and returned it to its
rightful owner. The result of course was two howling
five-year olds. But Catherine’s mother was too busy
apologizing to my mother: “I’m ever so sorry.
Catherine doesn't yet understand the value of things.”
"Ah yes,” said my mother, "but she does understand
the value of people".

All right, let me tell you another one.

Once upon a time, when I was young, fit and good
looking - OK, quite a long time ago - I cycled from
Land's End to John O'Groats - from the South to the
North of Great Britain - about 1000 miles. And one
day, I met an American tourist who was doing the same.
But he was having a lot of problems with his bike and
he was making very slow progress. And he asked me for
my help. His bike was beautiful - very expensive and
brand new - made with the very latest lightweight
alloy steel with 18 gears! (I had to count them three
times to be sure.) And it had double brakes and lights
that come on automatically. And when you rode it, it
was as smooth as a Mercedes. (I’ve never actually been
in a Mercedes, but I’m sure this is what it must feel
like.) So I brought it back to him to tell them that
there was nothing wrong with his bicycle - but if he
wanted to swap it for mine, I would be quite happy
with that.

"Yes", he said, "it's fine now, but when you put the
load on you can hardly get to move at all."

So I asked: "Well, what it is the load?"

He showed me - it weighed one hundred and forty two
pounds!

So I said, "No wonder you are not making progress, you
are carrying far too much weight."

And he said: "Well, I know it's a lot, but I really need it all."

And so I had to say to him: "My friend, how much do
you really want to get to get to where you're going?"
He thought for a moment and said "I really want to get there."

So I asked him: "Then what are you going to have to do
with all this weight you are carrying?"

At this a look of intense pain came across his face.
And eventually he said: "I'm going to have to lose
some of it, amn't I?"

So together we divided all this stuff into two piles -
one pile of the stuff that was helping him get to
where he was going - and another of the stuff that was
holding him back. It wasn't always easy to decide what
to put in each pile. Sometimes we had to give an item
the benefit of the doubt. But even so, I think you can
guess which was the bigger pile. And then we had a big
sale! I would like to be able to tell you that he gave
the money to the poor (that is, ME!) but that didn't
happen. Next day I agreed to cycle with him for the
first hour. There were a lot of hills to start with
and he went up them like he was in a Mercedes and I
trailed behind. After an hour, he was past me and
gone. I never saw him again.

But he left me with a question that I try to ask
myself about once a year. To list all my possessions
and ask: "Which of these are really helping me to get
to where I am going and which are just holding me
back?" Because it is very hard for a rich man to get
into the kingdom of heaven. And that is nothing to do
with God not loving rich people - it's just the law of
gravity.

Let us stand and profess our Faith in God, who gives
us the only True and ultimate wealth there is.

Mount Street Jesuit Centre,

114 Mount Street,

London SW1K 3AH.

ENGLAND.

fatbaldnproud@yahoo.co.uk