The rich young man
M Mons. Vincenzo Paglia
00:00
02:41

Gospel (Mt 19,16-22) - At that time, a man approached him and said to him: "Master, what good must I do to have eternal life?". He replied: «Why do you question me about what is good? There is only one good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." He asked him: «Which ones?». Jesus replied, "You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him: «All these things I have observed; what else am I missing?". Jesus said to him: «If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you possess, give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; And Come! Follow me!". Having heard this word, the young man went away, sad; in fact he possessed many riches.

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

A young man approaches Jesus and asks him what good he must do to achieve eternal life. He knows what the goal to achieve is, namely eternal life. The question complies with biblical tradition: what is written in the Law is good. Jesus, echoing the parallel passages of Mark and Luke, replies that only one is good. Jesus, even without saying it, means the Father who is in heaven. And he tells him to keep the commandments, this is the good way for life. That young man feels an inner restlessness but he doesn't know how to break the rules. He understands that these are not enough, perhaps he is looking for others or he just wants reassurance. Jesus does not respond by adding an eleventh commandment; he only says: «If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; And Come! Follow me!". It is the proposal of a high ideal: "If you want to be perfect". Perfection is for everyone and within everyone's reach because it concerns the heart. And the heart is perfect when it loves and lets itself be loved by the Lord. The love of God above all things brings with it the distribution of one's wealth to the poor. Saint Francis is the high example of this: he, a rich young man, is not ashamed of giving everything back to his earthly father to love the Father in heaven and possess life because he is poor in everything. The young man in the Gospel went away sad, because he did not want to leave his riches. Francis of Assisi, after leaving everything, lived in the joy of the Gospel lived without additions.