This past Sunday, September 8th, 2019, was Holy Name Sunday, where the members of the Holy Name Society gathers to reflect on the gospel, and their relationship with God. Following is a reflection that I submitted to the monthly newsletter.
“…anyone of you whodoes not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33)
On this Holy Name Sunday, September 8th, we are challenged by our Lord to focus on the importance of focusing on being true and faithful followers of Him. In the gospel for the Twenty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time (September 8th) our Lord is telling us of the sacrifices of being His followers. It’s from Luke, chapter 14, verses 14 to 33.
In this gospel we hear Our Lord say things like “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and
mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he
cannot be my disciple…” or “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after
me cannot be my disciple.”
Does Jesus really
expect us to hate our family? I don’t think so. I believe he’s using an extreme
example to get us to understand that no matter how important our families may
be to us, there should be nothing more important than loving and serving the
Lord God. In other words, we are not to let our love for our families get in
the way of our relationship of loving God and serving the Lord.Will this cause problems for us? That’s where the “cross” comes in. In our attempt in keeping God as our central focus in our lives, we will have issues and problems with our family and friends. These will be our crosses.
Finally, he says, “…anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” Is Jesus asking us to sell everything we have and renounce it? No! He’s just indicating that the possessions we do have (our homes, our cars, our bank accounts, etc.) are tools in serving Him, but are not be more important than loving God! Don’t let your money and possessions become “golden idols” in your life! Love of God and serving Him is to be the most important thing in your life.
Yes, I heard a priest say that our love & commitment to the LORD must be so great that in comparison our love for our families should SEEM like hate. God commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves, & one of the Ten Commandments is to honor our father & mother. So the LORD could not mean "hate" literally. As the priest at St. Margaret's Church said in his homily on Sunday, it is all a matter of PRIORITIES. We are always to put God first. As the LORD said elsewhere in the Gospel, "SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD."
ReplyDeleteDenying ourselves and taking up our cross is, for me, the scariest part of the Gospel. It is easier to put God before our love for any other person and any other possession in our lives than to put our commitment and love for God before our very lives. The cross MAY be the conflict that occurs when we put God as a higher priority before our families, but it might be taking a job or taking on a ministry that demands more if us or involves something we don't feel equipped to do or something we don't like to do or taking on the responsibility of caring for an elderly parent. Or what is even scarier, it might mean accepting some sort of physical suffering, whether it is persecution for our faith or accepting illness and/or disability and uniting that suffering with the sufferings of CHRIST on the cross, as my Mom was called to do. To accept a debilitating illness that would render me unable to function normally & go out & do my ministries is the one thing that terrifies me & that I would struggle most to accept & the one thing to which I would be inclined to say "NO".
I think the cross differs for each one of us & differs for each of us at different times if our lives. Eugene Kennedy in his book THE JOY OF BEING HUMAN refers to our lives being full of the cycle of the cross, death & resurrection. So I think the LORD calls us to die to ourselves many times in our lives, but each time He provides us with the necessary grace & we wind up better Christians and in a more joyful place when we come out of the tunnel and into the light, and if we are faithful He shows us in many ways that He is with us & even carrying us when we need to be carried.
Submitted by email from my friend Nilda:
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Tom
I enjoyed reading your reflection on this past Sunday's, September 8th, 2019, Gospel Reading.
It is ironic that the priest’s homily, who celebrated the Mass in the Parish I belong to, and by the way, one of my favorite priests, ( I tend to be a little biased, at times), spoke on the very same theme.
This priest spoke with full assertion in his interpretation of the meaning of the word, “hate” used in the Lords's proclamation, ,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me.
cannot be my disciple." (Lk 14:25-26)
He stated very emphatically that the Lord used this word to define the 'true faithful’ who is willing to follow Him, He explained that the word, hate is not meant in the unloving manner that humanity refers to it. He stated that what Jesus meant is that when we place Him first in all things in our lives, who is all Perfect and Pure Love, we become His disciples by living as true reflections of Him. We live, then, according to His will and not our will. This is what is referred to as dying to ourselves and becoming loving servants of God through obedience and humility. Then, out of love for Him, our King, Lord and Savior, we are able to extend this perfect love to our brethren, in our relationships with our family and all others; to the extent of carrying whatever crosses we must endure throughout the process, uniting them to His own sufferings and Cross, who died for us to give us new life.
God’s Blessing be with you always, Nilda V., OCDS