In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Today's Gospel of the Lord reminds us not to allow ourselves to be led astray by worldly enticements or worldly pleasures, but to keep our hearts on the path to heaven and to see that true riches is not in material wealth or power, but in holiness of life, in the sanctity of life, in storing up treasure in our spiritual progress in which we strive for holiness and sanctity and to do good works in the service of God, and to not allow ourselves to be in any way misled by the temporality of this world, and to see that in the end, all these things will not matter, but how we lived our life according to God's laws and commandments and our love for God, our love for our neighbor, and so our Lord just reminds us not to allow ourselves in any way to be distracted from our true goal, which is eternal life, and to be rich in heaven with merit and virtue, in which we live our life faithfully each day, striving to follow our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And this Gospel couldn't be more perfect for the blessed we honor today in the Franciscan family, blessed Contardo Ferrini, who was a scholar.
As a young man, he received a scholarship to study Roman and Byzantine law in Berlin, but he was a very pious man, he would attend daily Mass, he would live his faith openly at a time where, this time in Germany, when he was there, was very anti-Catholic, anti-Christian, but he would not allow himself in any way to be intimidated, and eventually returning to Italy, he was from Milan, which he was a lawyer and then went on to study canon law as well, so he was both a civil lawyer and a canon lawyer, and lived a very pious life.
He joined the Third Order Franciscan, he was also a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and he recognized his vocation was not to marry but to be single and dedicate his life, living a life of purity and chastity as a single man, and again, going to daily Mass and spending time in meditation and prayer.
He died at a very young age, he was only 43 when he died, he had a heart condition which took his life at a young age, but he died in 1902, so you can read about him and there's pictures of him, but he's just a wonderful example of the call, the vocation to serve and love God as an unmarried person and dedicating his life to his faith in loving and serving Jesus Christ, storing up treasures not in this world, but for the Kingdom of God.
May blessed Contardo Ferrini pray for us that we may imitate him in dedicating our lives in the love and service of God.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.