Those who truly desire to love the Lord are often profoundly aware of their smallness and insignificance. They feel inadequate in the face of the tasks the Lord assigns to them. They feel too sinful to really be His instruments in their world. If you have ever felt that way - and what honest person has not? - the two readings today have a very important lesson for you.

In the first reading, Gideon is called to be God's messenger to His people. He protests that he belongs to the most insignificant tribe, Manasseh, in all of Israel - and that even in this little tribe, his family is of no worth. But the angel of Yahweh assures him, through the miraculous burning of his holocaust, that he is God's choice for the mission, despite his insignificance.

In the Gospel reading Jesus provides a striking corrective to the angel's message to Gideon: one achieves true discipleship not despite, but because of his or her human poverty. In fact it is difficult, Jesus says, for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. Riches are a block to true freedom of spirit. Strikingly, Peter realizes that Jesus' teaching poses a challenge not only to the wealthy, but to every human being. "If this is true, then who of us can be saved?" All of us are "rich" in attachments, in ambition, in self-love.