TadPole

The gospel we’ve just listened to seems to be a perfect recipe for a suicide bomber or a sectarian (or both in the same person). Such a radical appeal automatically lights a warning light in every head. Or it should do. But many examples of the killing innocent people by terrorists provides sufficient evidence that’s not always obvious. I really hope that nobody here is going to take this gospel seriously in its literal meaning.
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I’ve been thinking for some years about a rather surprising custom of many mass attenders: taking the seats in the last pews. This is particularly noticeable when I say mass for Polish congregations. At the theatre or the opera it is the price that decides where you sit. But we don’t have tickets for mass. So, in this case it is not the price. Maybe this custom is associated with the personal hygiene of the celebrant? But I really use water, soap and toothpaste so you can get closer to me. So, probably that’s not the reason. Another thought concerns the height of some people. I’m quite tall and big, so I could be a serious obstacle for smaller people behind me. But I realise there is no connection at all here. Being honest, I really don’t know why some people prefer to keep themselves away from the altar.
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According to the Old Testament, the dispersed tribes of Israel became a nation when they left Egypt and were given the Ten Commandments by Moses. God chose this particular nation as his own. God did this for a purpose: Israel would show God’s wisdom and love to the other nations; Israel would have brought the light of true faith in one, invisible God to the nations worshipping false, hand-made idols. Israel was given the Law that might have helped them to become a holy nation. Unfortunately Israelites began to isolate themselves, claiming to be better than others. Eventually their religion turned into a bond keeping Israelites together against foreign influences. They were certain that only some of them could be saved. This opinion reflects in the question in today’s gospel: “Sir, will there be only a few saved?”
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A dying man gave each of his best friends – a lawyer, doctor and priest – an envelope containing £25,000 in cash to be placed in his coffin.

A week later the man dies and the friends each place an envelope in the coffin. Several months later, the priest confesses that he only put £10,000 in the envelope and sent the rest to a mission in Africa.

The doctor confesses that his envelope had only £8,000 because he donated to a medical charity.

The lawyer is outraged, “I am the only one who kept my promise to our dying friend. I want you both to know that the envelope I placed in the coffin contained my own personal check for the entire £25,000.
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For many centuries in the Catholic Church there was a trend suggesting that to live in poverty was the way to perfection. Some religious orders – like Franciscans – were established in opposition to more wealthy communities. Most of the religious nuns and monks make three vows and one of them is poverty. Interestingly when the members of the orders lived with no personal possessions their monasteries became rich and wealthy. But at the same time they introduced agricultural inventions, many of them ran schools and were centres of cultural life; i.e. many ancient Greek and Latin texts survived till now thanks to the silent and exhausting work of unnamed Benedictine scribes.
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