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Word of Life

Explore the profound meaning behind Jesus' statement about the rich entering the kingdom of God. Discover the importance of having a free heart and being open to God's will. This article challenges us to examine our attachment to earthly possessions.

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Word of Life

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  1. Word of Life November 2009

  2. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mt 19,24).

  3. Do you find this sentence striking? I think you’re right to bea bit bewilderedand wonderwhat you should do. Jesus never spokejust for the sake of it. So we have to takethese words seriously, without wantingto water them down.

  4. Let’s try to understand what they really mean from Jesus himself, from how he behaved towards the rich.He also mixed with well-off people.To Zaccheus, who had given away only half of his possessions,he said: “Today salvation has come to this house.”

  5. Furthermore, the Acts of the Apostles show us thatin the early Church the practice of holding goods in commonwas done freely, so that materially renouncing all one’s possessionswas not compulsory.

  6. Jesus thereforedidn’t thinkof founding onlya community of peoplecalled to follow him by leaving behindall their wealth.

  7. And yet he says:“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God”

  8. So what is Jesus condemning? Certainly not the goods of this earth in themselves, but the rich person who is attached to them. And why is that? The answer is clear: it is because all things belong to God, while the rich behave as if all thingsbelong to them.

  9. The fact is that riches can easily take the place of Godin the human heart. They blind the vision and make it easierfor all sorts of vices to take root.

  10. The Apostle Paul wrote: “Those who want to be richfall into temptation and are trapped by many sensless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered awayfrom the faith and pierced themselves with many pains”

  11. Plato had already affirmed:“It is impossiblefor someone who is extraordinarily goodto beat the same time extraordinarily rich.”

  12. What, then, should bethe attitude of peoplewho have possessions?They ought to havea free heart and betotally open to God,so that they feelto be administratorsof their goods,and know that–as Pope John Paul II said– they areunder a social debt.

  13. Since earthly goodsare not bad in themselves,we should not despise them,but we must use them well.

  14. It’s our hearts that have to be detached from them,not our hands. Those who are rich,are rich for the sake of others.

  15. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mt 19,24).

  16. But perhaps you’ll say: “I am not really rich, so these words are not meantfor me.” Be careful. The question that the Apostles asked Christin their dismay right after this statement was:“Then who can be saved?” This clearly tells us that Christ’s wordswere in some way directed at everybody.

  17. Even someone who has left everything to follow Christmay have his or her heart attached to many things.Even the person living in poverty who curses anyone who toucheshis or her belongings may be rich before God.

  18. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” “Word of Life”, monthly publication of the Focolare Movement. Text by: Chiara Lubich, July 1979.Graphic design by Anna Lollo incollaboration with Fr. Placido D’Omina (Sicily - Italy)

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