God provides all that we need. The first reading says if we choose wisdom, all other riches come to us. The second reading says God’s Word is living and effective. The gospel tells the familiar story of the rich young man.

God’s Word is living and incisive, the Letter to the Hebrews says, and the vivid and difficult gospel story of the rich man provides a fine example.

We can demonstrate that we’re on the trail of wisdom by showing humility rather than arrogance in our discernment; by seeking guidance through prayer instead of parroting commentators from network news programs.

Our bodies are important. But there is more to life than them. Our possessions make our lives pleasant. But we cannot live for them alone.

The doctor, who happens to be a very generous person, is constantly looking for a catch, a way out of Jesus’ command to the rich young man. But there is no catch—except to say the gospel isn’t necessarily about wealth and personal possessions.

I worry whenever this reading of the “camel through the eye of a needle” gospel comes around. Sometimes I look around my house at all the accoutrements I’ve gathered, and I feel very much like a dromedary loaded down with wares.

Filled with love, we pray with joy to the God for whom all things are possible.

The Word of God is alive, and it is alive today. It is a Word that enters into us completely. We can hide nothing from it. It helps us to know ourselves and discern what’s most important.

All through our life Christ is calling us. He called us first in baptism, but afterwards also, whether we obey his voice or not, he graciously calls us still. If we fall from our baptism, he calls us to repent; if we are striving to fulfill our calling, he calls us on from grace to grace, and from holiness to holiness, while life is given us. —John Henry Newman (1801-1890)