Every year the editors of “Forbes” magazine publish a list of the world’s richest persons.  Every year I look to see if my name has been added to that list yet.  The world has not yet figured it out.  I consider my self to be among the richest persons in this life.  Forbes measures riches by material goods such as bank accounts and stock portfolios.  I measure my riches in the friendships and personal relationships that I have been privileged to share in over the years.  I have been greatly blessed to have beautiful parents and grandparents, a loving family of sisters and a brother, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, cousins and relatives.  I have been blessed with an abundance of life-giving friendships that have brought me great joy.  Every day I am blessed to be able to share my life with wonderful people in my parish who inspire me and help me to grow richer in wisdom and grace.  Every day I am renewed in my encounter with Jesus in the sacraments and in prayer.  Over the years, the Eucharist has consistently been the source and summit of my riches in this life and in the promise of eternal life to come.  I am truly rich in the things that matter most in life.  Put my name on that list!

    What is the measure or worth of our faith in God?  How do I account for the virtues acquired in this life?  Of what worth do I count the possession of the indwelling presence of Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit within my soul?  As the rich young man asks Jesus today, what must I do to add “eternal life” to my portfolio?  Often in life we are “collectors” and our faith and knowledge of God is just one more thing to add to our collection of life’s goods. Too often this faith is merely nominal. We want to possess the Kingdom of God but we don’t want it to cost us too much.  Perhaps we are hoping to be able to acquire it on a short sale.  

    A reading from the Book of Wisdom speaks about the supreme value of the spirit of wisdom in our lives that is given to us as a gift from God.  The Wisdom writer wisely acclaims, “(I) deemed riches nothing in comparison with her…Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands.”  Jesus would encourage a similar valuation of eternal riches in comparison to temporal riches, “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?  For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.”  (Mt 16,26)  The pursuit of eternal life and the Kingdom of Heaven should be our first concern in life.  Jesus encourages us, “But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.”  (Mt. 6,33)  The riches of the world and temporal goods are fleeting compared to the eternal value of our salvation in Jesus Christ.  Knowledge of Jesus and his teachings that give us eternal wisdom in faith should hold the highest value for us as disciples.  St. Paul takes it even farther when he asserts, “[But] whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and [the] sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil 3,7-10)

    Faith informs us that if we were to truly “give up everything” for the sake of our relationship with Jesus then we would be given greater rewards in this life and eternal life in the life to come.  We teach our children to pursue good careers and the temporal goods of the world but we too often fail to pass on to them the supreme good and the value of our faith.  We see in our Church today many rich young people who walk away from a life of discipleship with our Lord because they don’t know its true value.  Jesus urges us today to choose faith first, to listen to his Word and to follow in his Way of life.  Then we may find our name on God’s list of the world’s richest persons.