14 October 2018—28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 7: 7-11; Psalm 90; Response: Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!; Hebrews 4: 12-13; Mark 10: 17-30

A decade ago, entrepreneur and writer Eric Ries released his “Lean Startup” methodology. Three years later, this was codified in his best-selling book of the same title. One of the key concepts of the methodology is the pivot.

The Financial Times Lexicon states: “Eric Ries… reminds us that pivots imply keeping one foot firmly in place as you shift the other in a new direction. In this way, new ventures process what they have already learned from past success and failure and apply these insights in new areas.”

Let me propose this as the point for reflection on this Sunday’s Gospel about Christ and the rich young man. In the story, Christ, effectively, asks the rich young man to pivot. The young man was a good person, having followed the commandments in his youth. But observe the details in the story.

One, the commandments— save for one, “Honor your mother and your father”—all told him what not to do, but did not tell him what to do.

Two, Christ, before he asks for “more” from the man, “looks at him, loved him.” Then he asks him to sell everything and give to the poor. Finally, Christ tells him, “You will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

Here is a classic spiritual and existential pivot that Christ asks not just of the rich young man, but of all of us who desire, seek and try to follow him. We keep one foot firmly in place, and shift the other in a new direction.

One foot firmly in place is seeking and working on living a good life. It is doing everything that makes us a good person. Yes, avoiding the “don’ts” to begin with, but doing much more.

A meaningful life

Esteemed Jesuit theologian Fr. Hans Kung’s “formula” for a meaningful life serves as a good guide: having something to live on, something to live for and something to die for. All three are aligned with God’s will for us, which make for a good life. But the third and last is the pivot.

As Fr. Benny Calpotura, SJ, put it, at a certain point in our life we need to make a choice, whether we will enter the core of our relationship with Christ, or stay in the periphery. However, he added, a number choose the latter, which is not evil. It is actually good, but it falls short of the pivot.

In all this, Christ will always look at us and love us, and tell us—or invite us—to do more. For us to sell everything and give to the poor, and follow him. Again, the pivot becomes clearer and more concrete.

We all have our own pivots to make. “Selling everything” carries a meaning that is personal and demands a personal choice. For this, the Ignatian graces of indifference and availability are apropos.

There is a beautiful image that Ignatian spirituality uses: “with one foot raised.” It literally and symbolically captures the spirit of indifference and availability. One is ready to leave and go for the sake of mission—not a minute, not a second later, when one hears the call to mission.

This requires a tremendous grace of indifference, detachment from all things, persons, places, and total dedication to work and mission. It is not an apathetic detachment or indifference devoid of affection.

On the contrary, it is filled with affection and love of all things from God—“All things I have and that I am, you have given all to me.” It is precisely the depth of this realization that moves us to a profound sense of gratitude that becomes the source of a total offering of self: “Take and receive, O Lord, all… dispose of me totally according to your will…”

This, in a deep sense, is what gives the indifference and detachment a deeper meaning, and makes them greater channels of grace.

Thus, to pivot is not a one moment of choice and action, but rather a mindset, a way of life lived “with one foot raised” —while having one foot firmly on the ground.

This is the invitation to us. After working on a life that is good and meaningful, working to have something to live on and something to live for, we wait for and come to the moment when we are blessed with the invitation to “sell what we have, and give to the poor… then come, follow Christ.”

To pivot to follow Christ more nearly, “with one foot raised,” we follow, too, with greater love, wherever it leads us. —CONTRIBUTED