+(Intro) Today we recall the Rochefort martyrs who were 64 of the 829 Catholic clergymen deported for refusing to take an oath of a radicalised anti-Christian policy of the French Revolution. They were held in prison ships off Rochefort in inhumane conditions, and at least 505 of them died. The Rochefort martyrs were beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995. Let us take a moment to recall our sins.
(After the gospel) As our readings remind us this morning, riches and power have a way of corrupting our minds and hearts. The clergy martyred during and after the French Revolution was because of their resistance to the powerful of their time. With riches one can all too easily begins to think one is a god as our first reading reminded us. Our own time is not exempt from this way of thinking.
Jesus goes so far as to say that “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” With riches, we can all too easily get caught into a sense of self-sufficiency, think of ourselves no longer in need of the continual gift of divine grace. This runs completely contrary to the simple and poor life we as monks or Christians we are called to live.
Isn’t this what the Eucharist is reminding us of every time we celebrate it at this altar. Jesus taking the very simple elements of bread and wine and changing them into his Body and Blood is what He wants to do with each of our lives as often as we seek to rely totally on his loving mercy and continual help.
Ezek 28:1-10; Matt 19:23-30