Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time B. October 12, 2003. Our Lady of Grace. All Masses. Wisdom 7:7-11, Hebrews 4: 12-13. Mark 10: 17-27.

A wealthy man approached Jesus and said, “Good, teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The first instruction Jesus gave the wealthily man was meant for beginners. Jesus said, “Keep the Ten Commandments.” Because Jesus was moved by the man’s efforts and his sincerity, he looked at the man with love and gave him an advanced lesson in Christian discipleship. Jesus said, “Go and sell what you have and give it to the poor, and come and follow me.” The man became very sad because he had many possessions. As the man was walking away from the very thing he had asked Jesus to show him – the way to eternal life, Jesus said to his disciples, “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. My children, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Our recent parish mission trip to Ghana, West Africa, taught me to see giving what I have to the poor and following Jesus a bit differently. I have never been in a country with so much poverty and so many needs of every kind. Most people live from hand to mouth, having only enough for the day. Medical care is very primitive. The average life expectancy is 57. Even the best highway in Ghana is filled with huge pot holes, at times dissolving into nothing. Most people in Ghana would see the retreat center where we stayed as far above anything they could hope for. Yet, there were only dim lights and no lamps for reading. There was no television and no air conditioning in the African heat. There was no warm or hot water for showers. So little water flowed from the facet that I had to fill a pail with water slowly and pour the cold water over my head to get wet, and a second time to rinse off. I hated the cold showers more than anything in the day, but because of the heat I had to take a shower daily, or deal with my sticky smell. I got tired of eating chicken twice a day, even though most people in Ghana have chicken only on Christmas, Easter, and at very important celebrations. It took me a month to get my emotional, mood and sleep life back to normal after we got home. The wonderful, loving and faith filled people of Ghana made leaving the much richer life style to which I am accustomed enriching and worthwhile. I intend to return to Ghana in two years. My hope is that another group of parishioners will go to Ghana this spring.

Some have asked me why we can’t be content with helping people here, close to home, perhaps in North Minneapolis. My response is that we should move out of the comfort zone of our own well being and relative wealth and help people in our inner cities as well. But leaving home out of love for Jesus Christ and entering into a world very different from our own is an important response to today’s gospel. Jesus said, “There is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now .. and eternal life in the age to come.”

I have asked (a parishioner who went to Ghana) to share his (her) experience.

On the Sunday before we left for Ghana the good people of Our Lady of Grace gave us $14,000 to be used to help the people in Ghana. $7,000 of that amount will be used to help the poorer parish put an $11,000 floor in the church they have been trying to build for ten years. I promised that I would find the other $4,000. We gave $6,000 to the University parish to help build a modest dormitory for poor students, especially women, who are trying to change their lives by getting an education. One floor of the building costs $34, 000. An OLG parishioner has promised me $5,000 for this project if someone else will match this amount. Let me know if you can help. We also gave $1,000 for a birthing bed in one of the clinics. There will be a collection at the door after Mass today for the people in Ghana. Money placed in Mission Sunday envelops will go to the Society of the Propagation of the Faith. Other mission gifts will go to the Ghana mission. I am grateful for your generosity.