Nothing is further from Christianity than failure! Can you imagine what kind of people built the beautiful Cathedral of Rome, Toledo, Florence, and in other similar places? We can mention many Christian buildings. The aforementioned are all churches. We could also talk about paintings, sculptures, musical compositions, and other things as well.

So, we return to the eternal question: Is it bad to have material possessions? If we want to understand Jesus’ words, we have to pay attention to the question this man asked the Lord Jesus: what must I do to inherit eternal life?

This is the key to understand Jesus’ words: everything we do is supposed to be one more step taking us closer to our eternal life. The gospel is so clear: You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother."

Here, we have something really important to remember and internalize. We must know God’s will. You know the commandments, said Jesus to this man. This is one reason why it is important to come to Catechism classes; because it is important to know what our faith is about.
Then, the Gospel says that Jesus looked at him and loved him because he was faithful to God since his childhood. All of these I have observed from my youth. Again, how important to teach my child to do his homework, to be a hard worker, to tell the truth, to be honest, to wash his hands before having meals, and many other lessons. Among these and other lessons, we must not forget to teach our children to be faithful.

The Christian life is not only about living a long life in service to Christ. Do you remember when we said some months ago that the church reminds us every time we come to Mass about eternal life? Jesus said then to this man: "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

We know what happened with this man-he walked away because he had many earthly possessions. We also know what Jesus said: "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" What happened? This man forgot his eternal life. Where was his heart? What did he love most?

In Jesus’ words we can see two powerful ideas: Go, sell what you have, and give the poor. He is talking about service, love, and generosity. So, if we have possessions, if we have power, if we have resources, they are not just for ourselves, but should be put to use in service to others, also. And something else: Then come, follow me. God wants us to follow Him. He wants us to be close to Him. What again is the first Commandment? He wants us to love Him.

I love God and am close to Him, and I show this love towards him when I choose to prefer to come to Mass instead of skipping Mass to do something else. I also have to work hard in my life because God wants us to be successful. However, we don't want to fail our God by becoming so successful here on earth that we prefer live here to life in Heaven; that we prefer building wealth here rather than building wealth in Heaven. For each of us, we can metaphorically "sell" our possessions by serving God, and serving our neighbor. Through service to others, we serve God. By serving others, we make ourselves poorer than the poor we are serving.