[00:00] Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The rich young man who came, he says here young man, but we know it's the rich young man from other Gospels. He went to our Lord, and in the Gospel of Mark, he actually runs to our Lord. And he asks Him, "Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?"

[00:35] Now there's a subtle distinction, a theological distinction, that many people don't see in this parable. Because traditionally we speak about this parable, you know, under the mindset of Christian values and Christian theology, Christian reality, and we just assume that, you know, our Lord, or when the rich young man is asking our Lord, that we're already speaking about

[01:08] the life under the grace of God. But this rich young man is someone who's still under the law, under the old covenant. So when he comes to our Lord and says, "Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?" Our Lord answers him from the natural order, the natural law, because that's what was prescribed to the Jews. But the problem is, for them, the law became a source of condemnation, and not a source

[01:46] of eternal life. The law was something that was already written, as human beings, on our hearts, to not kill, to do the commandments that God Himself raised to a supernatural manner, as far as Revelation, but something that every single one of us, and those before Christianity, should have known even before Revelation. These are the laws that are written on our hearts by God, before any Ten Commandments

[02:19] were given to us on a mountain. So our Lord is speaking to him from where he was coming at. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness, and so on, honor your father or mother, love your neighbor as yourself. He's giving him something that was already known, revealing to him, almost like God revealed to Moses, what they were to do, making it a little bit easier for them to discern the

[02:55] law. But when I say that the law for them became a source of condemnation, it's because they could never actually reach that. They were constantly always failing. Why? Because they were weak human beings who did not yet have that other principle of life which our Lord was going to impart on those who would accept His teaching and accept Him as God and have that faith and trust in Him, which are the sacraments, but first of all,

[03:27] baptism, by which we enter into the life of God, by which we have that new life principle that raises our nature above just our human nature alone to the supernatural life, that life of God that our Lord possessed because He was the natural Son of God, by which He had the strength to go to the cross and suffer what He suffered, to do the works that He worked. That was the life that He was imparting to us. And when we read the Scripture, sometimes we read it with that mentality, but we forget

[04:02] to understand that that's not where the rich young man was coming from. So our Lord was always trying to bring them slowly to an understanding and raise their minds and hearts to a greater reality, that of grace, which He was going to be giving to everyone. So the rich young man, he says, "Well, I've kept all these things since my youth."

[04:33] Well, that means you're doing the baseline of what our Lord wants. Keeping the commandments is just like, well, yeah, you're a human being, you're keeping the commandments. So what? You know, you're supposed to do that. It's like, yeah, I don't kill. I'm a good person. I don't steal. I don't do this. It's like, yeah, yeah, that's just like putting your clothes on in the morning. That's what you're supposed to do before you go to the house. You know, if you're following God and just by human nature, yeah, you're supposed to be doing that.

[05:03] That's not heroic virtue that our Lord is looking for. And so the rich young man says, "Oh, all of these I've observed." What do I still lack? And our Lord immediately says, "Oh, you're seeking for something else because all of our human hearts are always seeking for something more. We're seeking union with God. We're seeking a fulfillment of the plan of God in our lives. We're seeking ultimate peace and happiness, which can only come from doing God's will.

[05:36] We're seeking union with Him in both mind and heart. We're seeking tranquility of order. All of these I observe. What do I still lack? Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go. Sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven." He's saying to divest yourself of the old man, divest yourself of the things that are tying you to the earth, divest yourself of things that have become an obstacle between

[06:08] you and union with God. Take up your cross and follow Me. In other words, be willing to sacrifice, be willing to go to do that, which may seem impossible, but for all, but for God, all things are possible. So when he, the rich young man, heard the statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

[06:42] He knew exactly where to go. He went to our Lord. He went to the source of grace. He went to the source of life. He went to Him. He ran to Him. He knew that our Lord had the answer, the solution to that emptiness that he was feeling. Even though he had been observing all the commandments, he knew that our Lord had more. But when our Lord gave him what it was that he was to seek and to do in order to find

[07:16] that eternal happiness, he went away sad, because he still could not detach himself from his worldly possessions. He did not have that poverty of spirit, which our Lord was looking for. And later on in the Gospel, the apostles were astonished, because our Lord, after this says, "Verily I tell you, that it is easier, how hard it is for a rich man, someone who

[07:46] has many possessions, to enter the kingdom of heaven. And He said it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And the apostles said, "Well, who can be saved?" That's a common thing the apostles were saying when our Lord was teaching, "Well, who can be saved then?" Because they're looking at everything as a natural order, like I was talking about. They're not realizing that God's going to give an extra principle, that He doesn't ask

[08:19] things of us unless He gives us the grace and the tools to accomplish those things in the spiritual life. So our Lord said, "Well, with man, it is impossible, but for God, all things are possible." So what we can take from this is it doesn't matter what state in life, it doesn't matter whether most people use this Gospel to preach the evangelical councils, which is religious life, following our Lord, our Lord speaking to all of us to follow Him in whatever state

[08:54] in life. The most important thing is the poverty of spirit. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit. You can be the great Catholic King of France, St. Louis, who had tons of riches, but he was a third order Franciscan, and he wore his third order garb underneath the things that he had to wear because of his state. And he became a great saint, one of the greatest saints, liberating the Holy Land, founding monasteries, being friends with St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis himself.

[09:30] But he had the poverty of spirit, although he had many riches, worldly riches, he had that poverty of spirit that our Lord is asking for, the lack of attachment to earthly things. So that is where we get the strength and the grace to be able to follow our Lord and all the things that He asks of us. To not just get to the point, that natural level, the highest natural level, love your neighbor as yourself, but to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

[10:08] Not for hope of gain, but because we are children of God and we are now operating on a principle greater than just the natural principle of life that God has given to us, our human nature, but a supernatural principle that is given to us because we are children of God heading towards a supernatural destination, which is the kingdom of heaven. So that we can go beyond what is natural to what is supernatural.

[10:43] To no longer have it us who live, but Christ who lives in us.