Monday, May 24, 2021 - Mary Mother of the Church, Mary Help of Christians - Jesus Christ became poor, he who was rich, so that you may become rich through his poverty - Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10, 17-27

We celebrated Pentecost yesterday, and we are now resuming the ordinary time of the liturgy. The desire for eternal life is not a day-long effort, nor is it a duty to be performed, but the Lord would have it come to perfection through our everyday life. We heard in today's gospel of a man rushing to Jesus, expressing his desire to earn eternal life. Jesus gave him two answers: one was to make him know the commandments of God. And the man claimed to have watched them from a young age. It could well be said that this man has already taken a great step: to keep the commandments. Yet Jesus wanted him to go a step further: to sell all his properties and give them to the poor. There arises a real puzzle for this young man because he was rich.

In this way, Jesus would like to learn his teaching as he did to his disciples. To attain eternal life, it is not just a desire or a literal observance of the laws. He said: "How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" This is a great obstacle, as we have heard in this passage from the Gospel. Indeed, the Lord gives us time to purify and free our hearts so as not to get attached to goods that do not last. For once our hearts are filled with love and devotion to the goods of the earth, we become slaves to wealth and money, and the Lord will find no more space there.

To live with a heart without sharing and to seek only God and his kingdom, this is what God desires for our happiness. The Blessed Virgin Mary serves us as a model of this offered life, when Jesus, at the foot of the Cross, offered it to John who represents the Church. There, Mary became the mother of the whole Church: a memory that the Church celebrates every year on the Monday after Pentecost. She is the mother who never leaves us alone so much in joy as in sorrows.

In addition, on May 24 we also commemorate the Virgin Mary Help of Christians. Don Bosco entrusted the Congregations of the Salesians and of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians with all their activities under his protection. Yes, Mary is a mother, greetings to all and we can call on her at every moment of life. Amen.