30th Sunday: What do you want?

St. Theresa of Avila in her spiritual classic, The Interior Castle, offered a saint’s view of how to follow Christ. She says that as you approach the Father’s castle it is dark and ominous. You walk up to the front door and it is lit by a torch burning brightly. As you prepare to enter, the light from the torch allows you to look back into the dark and, perhaps, for the first time in your life, to see what vipers and venomous creatures have been biting you.  In the Gospel of the last three weeks Jesus has been calling us to leave behind those things that are biting us and to ‘come follow him.’ Consider the stories told over the last three weeks that follow one after the other in Mark’s Gospel:
 
The Young Man’s question: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Mk. 10:17
(Two weeks ago) Jesus says, only God is good. We must leave serious sin behind; honor our parents, do not murder, steal, lie or covet our neighbor’s wife or property. Serious sin clouds our interior vision and distorts how we look at God’s creation. Jesus then tells the young man that if he would be perfect he must sell his property, give it to the poor and come follow him. We must enter into a spiritual space, uncluttered by a preoccupation with our stuff, where we can receive something from God. You cannot put anything in this world in the place of God because then you are not available to receive anything from God. We cannot receive from God if our hands are already full of our stuff.
 
The disciples question: “Lord give me and my brother seats on your right and left when you come into your kingdom” Mk. 10:37
(Last week) The disciples James and John are arguing over who is the greatest among the disciples. Jesus tells them that the greatest among them is the one who serves the rest. For Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. If we have to put our possessions behind to follow the Lord, we must also submit our desires to the imitation of Christ in service to our neighbor. In other parts of the Gospel Jesus says that we must pick up our cross and follow him. Mt. 16:24-26; Lk. 9:23. Our lives are not about us; they are about the love of God and our neighbor.
 
Jesus’ Question: “What do you want?” Mk. 10:51
(The gospel this week) The question asked in today’s gospel is the right question. The blind man attracted Jesus' attention by crying out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” Jesus asks the question to the blind man, “What do you want?” The man doesn’t ask for eternal life, he doesn’t ask to be the greatest, instead he asks for mercy. He has empty hands; he needs help and he knows he needs help. That prompts the Lord’s question, “What do you want?”  The blind man says, “I want to see!” Jesus gives him sight and the blind man immediately follows Jesus on the way.  
 
A spiritual place where we can receive
These three stories begin with Jesus reminding the rich, young man that “only God is good.” Mk. 10:18.   We have to get past thinking of God as the one that fills our shopping list. God does help us with our needs, but what he wants to give us is the greatest good, sight so that we can see and follow him. St. Theresa would tell us that the way to God looks like this:
 
Purgative way: We pray and inquire specifically into the ways that we offend God. Like the rich young man, we have to oppose serious sin in our lives. We must refuse to be dominated by our desire for stuff.  We have to grow past our small self-concern into a love of neighbor rooted in the love of God within each us. We can grow in this regard through conversations with good people that help us bring order to our life, reading good books, scripture, confession and the mass. St. Theresa’s The Interior Castle advises that to receive a share of Divine Life, we must make room for God. 
 
Illuminative way: As we empty our self of our stuff and our self-centeredness, our awareness of God will lead us into deeper prayer an intimate relationship with God.
 
Unitive way: God and our souls are united; the very purpose of our lives.
 
God is always calling us to prepare ourselves for him alone and he calls us to ‘follow him’. We follow Christ in marriage, or as single people (unmarried, divorced or celibate) by moderating our desires, prayer and study. Above all, in service of others. God gives us the growth; we don’t take it for ourselves because ‘only God is good.’ We must come to God with empty hands.
 
Here are some opportunities to grow:

Prayer Congress: on Wednesday, November 7 after the 8 am mass. Learn more about prayer and join with other parishioners in study and community prayer for your intentions and the intentions of others. You can sign up at the Here to Help table in the Narthex or online at our parish website.
 
Advent Reflection by Candlelight for Women:  On Friday, November 30, 2018 at 6 pm in the St. Mark Parish Hall you can set aside two hours to prepare your mind and your heart to make this Advent holy and joyful. This free event will consist of opportunities for reflection, fellowship, and instruction by Sister Lois Paha who will share from her 40 years of diocesan and pastoral ministry experience.
 
Annual Men’s Conference: Next Saturday, November 3, the Annual Men’s Conference will be held at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish. You can register online and get more information right here.