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| JESUS AND THE RICH YOUNG MAN. Image from thecatholicpriesthood.blogspot.com via google.com |
"No one is good but God alone."
There were negative reactions to Pope Francis I's statement about atheists being capable of going to heaven. Commenting on the Gospel of last Wednesday which was about the Apostles trying the stop someone who does not belong to their group of followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, he said that the disciples "were a little intolerant" and that they had the mentality that "those who do not have the truth, cannot do good" and says that, "This was wrong ... Jesus broadens the horizon" continuing with, "The root of this possibility of doing good - that we all have - is in creation."
So his challenge to atheists,
"Just do good and we'll find a meeting point."
Doing good is easy until we ask ourselves, what is Good? The rich young man calls the Lord Jesus Christ good and receives this reply,
"Why call me good? God alone is good!"
Of course the Lord Jesus Christ just wanted to emphasize that the only true measure of goodness is God for He knew beforehand what the rich young man wanted to ask and get confirmation about: whether he, the rich young man, was good enough for as he told the Lord, he had fulfilled every one of the Commandments since his childhood. So the Lord says he lacks one thing and challenges him to sell all his possessions and give to the poor so that he could have treasures in heaven and tells him to follow Him afterwards. At this point we read that he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Here lies the difference between divine goodness and earthly goodness. Earthly goodness seem to set as maximum the enumerated commandments to the letter such as not killing, not committing adultery, not stealing, not bearing false witness, not defrauding, and honoring father and mother. But divine goodness goes beyond what the letter states but what the spirit of the commandments truly and fully demands and the Lord Jesus Christ gave us some insights with regards to this, for example the Fifth and Sixth Commandments: killing is not merely taking the life of another but even cursing a person would make someone guilty of violating the commandment prohibiting killing; while adultery is not just having an affair with someone other than one's spouse but even just the malicious look upon a woman could already make a man guilty of adultery.
To be good in the measure of the world would most often than not reject the ideas of washing each other's feet [John 13;14] and carrying one another's burden [Galatians 6:2]. How much more the giving up of one's many possessions, sharing them with the poor and then following someone who ended up dying upon a cross! Some kind of foolishness, many people might say: someone doing good on earth doesn't have to go that far!
So the Pope challenges atheists to do good. That's a perfect first step toward becoming candidates to citizenship in heaven. But would they be willing to accept the next step, that of giving up their possessions and sharing with the poor and then the most important step of all, following the Lord Jesus Christ?
But I guess this challenge is not only posted for atheists. Even most of us who claim to be Christians have to rethink if we could be true citizens of heaven looking at the way we live our lives, the manner we treat each other, and the preparations we make in order to achieve that citizenship.
For it is not enough to be just good because we have to be really good according to the goodness of God.
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