In the word of Jesus that Matthew gives us today the verb “to leave” resounds strongly. However, it is not a question of renouncing only external goods and possessions. We must live the most necessary renunciation in relation to ourselves. The Fathers teach: nec tamen sufficit nostra derelinquere nisi relinquamus et nos, “it is not enough to give up one’s possessions if we do not know how to leave ourselves too”. And renouncing oneself, Jesus tells us, means making room, widening the boundaries of life, the spaces of the heart, widening the gaze, in order to be able to welcome the hundredfold that God wishes to give us. We do not leave so much to leave, but to welcome and welcome a gift by which God invites us to expand. It is the gift of a love that makes our existence humble, sweet, magnanimous, that is, with a big heart, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians. Even St. Benedict, in his Rule, invites us to walk the monastic journey with this desire: to allow the heart to expand to run along the paths of God with the unspeakable sweetness of love (cf. RB, Pr 49). Either renunciation leads to this expansion of life in love or otherwise it remains sterile, useless, presumptuous, hypocritical. We renounce in view of the hundredfold, and the hundredfold is the fullness of a love that at the same time expands our life and makes it capable of authentic relationships, “in the bond of peace”.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey