September 8, 2013

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Who can know God’s counsel,
or who can conceive what the LORD intends?
For the deliberations of mortals are timid,
and unsure are our plans.
For the corruptible body burdens the soul
and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
And scarce do we guess the things on earth,
and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;
but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?
Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?
And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-17

R. (1) In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Reading 2 Phmn 9-10, 12-17

I, Paul, an old man,
and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,
whose father I have become in my imprisonment;
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
I should have liked to retain him for myself,
so that he might serve me on your behalf
in my imprisonment for the gospel,
but I did not want to do anything without your consent,
so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.
Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,
that you might have him back forever,
no longer as a slave
but more than a slave, a brother,
beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,
as a man and in the Lord.
So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.

Gospel Lk 14:25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“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.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”

The Cost of Discipleship

Pastor’s Column

23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 8, 2013

“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.”

Luke 14:25-26

In my bedroom there is a large oval picture of my great-great grandparents in Poland. My great-grandmother (their daughter) left home as a young woman of perhaps 18 or 19 at the turn of the last century. She took very few possessions with her. She left home for a better life in the United States because there was no work in Poland and no prospects. She came seeking a better life and went to Chicago, where she met my great-grandfather, who had made the same sacrifices in his life. Neither one of them ever saw their families again, and my great-grandmother was an only child.

Many of you have similar stories of how your families came to this country. Imagine the sacrifices! Why shouldn’t Jesus ask the same thing? So many of our grandparents had the guts (or desperation) to do this in order to seek a better life – but would we have the guts to do something similar for Jesus if it were required? The Lord normally doesn’t ask this much, but what if he did? Could I do that?

Some people preach or follow a gospel that makes Christianity sound as easy as possible, as though no real commitment to Christ might be needed, no change of lifestyle, no difference from anyone else in the world. But this is not the gospel of Christ. Jesus makes it clear that following him is going to be a sacrifice and things are going to have to change. That’s part of the thrill of following Jesus – that it really is challenging.

When Jesus uses the word “hate” he does not mean anger or hostility toward the things we love. What he does mean is a spirit of detachment. If there is a conflict between something in my life and Jesus, particularly a sin, discipleship must take precedence, even over the most sacred human relationships if absolutely necessary!

To “hate one’s own life” does not mean self-loathing! Instead, Jesus insists we learn to hate what is displeasing to him, that is, our sins that we are attached to and may even prefer to keep. This is what we are to hate, and it is going to cost us plenty! But the reward is far worth it—becoming a true disciple of the Son of God.

A Christian must be ready to give up anything to keep his faith – and this is the point of this gospel. Is there something in my life that, if it were taken away from me, would cause me to lose my faith? Is there something I prefer other than Jesus? I may have to make that choice one day.

Father Gary

St. Paul Center Blog

Counting the Cost: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted by Dr. Scott Hahn on 09.06.13 |

Wisdom 9:13-18
Psalm 90:3-6, 12-17
Philemon 1:9-10, 12-17
Luke 14:25-33

Like a king making ready for battle or a contractor about to build a tower, we have to count the cost as we set out to follow Jesus.

Our Lord today is telling us upfront the sacrifice it will take. His words aren’t addressed to His chosen few, the Twelve, but rather to the “great crowds” - to “anyone,” to “whoever” wishes to be His disciple.

That only makes His call all the more stark and uncompromising. We are to “hate” our old lives, renounce all the earthly things we rely upon, to choose Him above every person and possession. Again He tells us that the things we have - even our family ties and obligations - can become an excuse, an obstacle that keeps us from giving ourselves completely to Him (see Luke 9:23-26, 57-62).

Jesus brings us the saving Wisdom we are promised in today’s First Reading. He is that saving Wisdom.

Weighed down by many earthly concerns, the burdens of our body and its needs, we could never see beyond the things of this world, could never detect God’s heavenly design and intention. So in His mercy He sent us His Spirit, His Wisdom from on High, to make straight our path to Him.

Jesus himself paid the price for to free us from the sentence imposed on Adam, which we recall in today’s Psalm (see Genesis 2:7; 2:19). No more will the work of our hands be an affliction, no more are we destined to turn back to dust.

Like Onesimus in today’s Epistle, we have been redeemed, given a new family and a new inheritance, made children of the father, brothers and sisters in the Lord.

We are free now to come after Him, to serve Him - no longer slaves to the ties of our past lives. In Christ, all our yesterdays have passed. We live in what the Psalm today beautifully describes as the daybreak of His kindness. For He has given us wisdom of heart, taught us to number our days aright.

Sunday Scripture Study

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C

September 8, 2013

Click here for USCCB readings

Opening Prayer

First Reading: Wisdom 9:13-18b

Psalm: 90:3-6,12-17

Second Reading: Philemon 9-10,12-17

Gospel Reading: Luke 14:25-33

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus continues his journey to Jerusalem. After being the dinner guest of a leading Pharisee on the Sabbath (Luke 14:1-14), he resumes his ministry of teaching, making use of a great many parables (Luke 15—16).

As he traveled, great crowds (“multitudes,” in the RSV) followed him about, no doubt creating an expectant “buzz” and festive anticipation around him.

Jesus, however, wants them to be under no illusion as to what it really means to be his follower. Attachment to family would be no excuse for not following him: God must take priority over all else (verse 26. Also, see Luke 9:59-62; Matthew 10:37).

Jesus’ call demands readiness to bear persecution and suffering (verse 27). In this, he gave us both an example to follow (John 9:16-17; Matthew 16:24-26), and the means possible to join our crosses to his (Colossians 1:24).

QUESTIONS:

In the First Reading from the Book of Wisdom, what point is the writer making about the limitations of our knowledge? About those limitations compared to things that can only be known by God? What should our attitude be when questioning God’s ways?

Our Second Reading comes from the short letter of St. Paul to a Christian disciple named Philemon. Paul is sending this letter along with an escaped slave named Onesimus who Paul is sending back to his master, Philemon. What is Paul’s primary concern in this reading? What attitude of heart does he wish to inspire in Philemon in regards to Onesimus? What should our attitude be toward those who have strayed from the Faith or wronged us personally, but are now returning in repentance?

In the Gospel Reading, who is Jesus’ audience in this teaching? Why do you think they were following him at this time? What do you think they expected from him? What would they have made of this teaching of his?

What is Jesus saying about family? What does he mean by “hating” (verse 26)? By carrying one’s cross (verse 27)?

What do each of the parables tells us about how to give our lives to Jesus?

What has your decision to follow Christ cost you thus far? What do you think it might cost you in the future? What should it cost?

Closing Prayer

Catechism of the Catholic Church: §§ 1618, 2544

‘He started to build and was unable to finish!’ A sad commentary, which, if you don’t want, need never be made about you; for you possess everything necessary to crown the edifice of your sanctification—the grace of God and your own will. -St. Josemaria Escriva

23^rd Sunday: Discipleship and Detachment

"He turned and addressed them . . ."

Sunday readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/090813.cfm

Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us in these troubled times.

Wis 9: 13-18B
Phmn 9-10, 12-17
Lk 14: 25-33

Life experience shows us that one serious choice automatically eliminates another. Choosing a spouse for matrimony eliminates all others. It also comes with particular demands and responsibilities to that sacred covenant that excludes other choices.

Likewise, any serious life choice about one’s vocation is far more limiting than choosing what to eat for dinner. But even that most common choice eliminates other foods. Faced with a buffet or pot-luck dinner may appear to offer us a plethora of choices but sooner or later you can’t have it all. And so it goes in life.

This same truth applies to our discipleship of the Lord Jesus. The demands and limits that Jesus offers us this Sunday in the Gospel (Lk 14: 25-33) seem at least on face value to be extreme. We are called to “hate” our “father and mother, wife and children . . .” We must carry our cross and renounce all of our possessions. Who would find such choices in any way attractive? If that’s what it takes only the most severe would seek to follow Jesus. Or might there be more under the surface of these words? There always is.

The choice to embrace the Gospel is serious business. We are not called to be part time Christians or mere Sunday Catholics who give the appearance of discipleship but in truth never let the core message of the Lord truly change our hearts and minds. But is the alternative to hate our family and material possessions?

As always we must remember that the Gospels were not written in modern English so the word “hate” in this context must have another meaning. In essence the word must be better understood as prefer. I must not prefer other people, human relationships, and material possessions with all their advantages more than my relationship with Jesus. To fall in love with the Lord is to say that I prefer him above all other things and that I am willing to even sacrifice all rather than find a less challenging way.

The cost of discipleship is sometimes a “no pain no gain” sort of thing. Nothing worthwhile comes easy but in the same way to follow the Lord is not an endurance test in which only the strong will survive.

If God is at the center of our lives and if we take the Gospel seriously with, then all other people, places, and things fall into their proper order. As St. Augustine reminds us: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in thee O Lord.”

There is no doubt that we need to be connected to others on both an emotional and social level. We are indeed made not to be alone but to take God very seriously. When the cross comes into our experience we will see it as part and parcel of our salvation and not just an annoying and unnecessary form of suffering.

When we look at our “stuff” in light of the treasure we hold in our faith, doesn’t all the energy spent on the pursuit of riches take on lesser meaning? While we need a certain amount of things to live with and we even pray for “our daily bread” in the Lord’s Prayer yet how much is enough? If our life is all about accumulation then have we pushed God aside? We can live without it if need be for we find ourselves attached to the search of a better spiritual life. Nothing wrong with having things but they should never be ends in themselves.

There’s no doubt that Jesus sets the bar very high at times but it is for our ultimate good. If we have a part of our life that is given over to doing good for others, if we are serious about a prayer life, and generous with what we have, then this Gospel becomes a way to be free and find a joy that only Jesus can offer. Our Eucharist becomes a sign of unity and gratitude for the privilege we have of being sons and daughters of a Father who loves us into a life more than we can ever imagine.

O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption,
look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters,
that those who believe in Christ
may receive true freedom
and an everlasting inheritance. Fr. Tim

Insight Scoop

A Love So Great It Seems Like Hate?

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, September 8, 2013 | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Wis 9:13-18b
• Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-17
• Phmn 9-10, 12-17
• Lk 14:25-33

I recently read a column by a young Catholic who expressed frustration with the saying, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” She wrote that this seemed to make sense initially but, she added, “I started to wonder why we need to hate at all. Certainly, Jesus didn’t teach that. Jesus was all about love.” She went a step further, saying, “When we start hating, whether it is a person or an action, we stop recognizing the dignity in the other person, which makes it easy to oppress them.”

This seems rather reasonable at first glance. But if Jesus never expressed hate, what are we to do with today’s Gospel, in which Jesus tells the great crowds traveling with him to Jerusalem, “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.” As Luke Timothy Johnson notes in his commentary, “the language here is very strong,” for the Greek word used for hate—misein—“is the opposite of ‘love’ (agapao)…”

How should we understand this blunt and seemingly “unJesus-like” remark? First, we must work to free ourselves from the common understanding of “love” and “hate” as primarily having to do with feelings and raw emotion. When love, for example, is defined as how we feel about someone or something, both love and the object of my “love” are devalued and damaged. How many marriages last when based on a love flowing from strong emotion and romantic euphoria, not rooted in a commitment of will and a mature acceptance of responsibility?

The two terms—love and hate—as used in Luke’s Gospel, “denote attitudes and modes of action,” Johnson explains, “not emotions.” Jesus was not a pop psychologist; he was not concerned with talking about feelings, but with responding rightly to truth. His are strong and hard words, but they are best understood in light of his own actions. Did Jesus love his disciples? The people of Israel? The world? The answer to all three questions is emphatically, “Yes!” And yet his love for the Father was so perfect, complete, and absolute that Jesus, at different times and in various ways, spoke harshly to his disciples, denounced the sins of Israel, and renounced the ways of the world.

And here we find a paradox within a paradox, for while those actions might appear hateful to some, they are the epitome of love, for love always wills the good of the other despite the emotions involved. The man who truly loves God will never despise, mock, or demean his friends or family. But his love for God should be so consuming—so distinct and radical—that his love for other people might seem hateful. When Jesus told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”, it appears he is being unfair, even hateful. But his next words are essential: “You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men” (Matt. 16:23). Anything hindering us from loving God is to renounced; anyone who insists on taking the place of God in our lives must be rebuffed.

This teaching by Jesus builds upon many of his earlier statements. It amplifies, for instance, his remark, “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Lk. 9:25). And it challenged those following him to consider seriously the hard fact of the Cross. The journey to Jerusalem was a journey toward suffering and death. Everyone on the journey must take up and carry “his own cross,” for only by the Cross do we enter into the Kingdom, the heavenly family of God.

Jesus calls us to reject everything and everyone who would keep us from God. That includes sin, of course; it might also include some friendships and relationships. What may seem like hate to others is evidence that Jesus is indeed all about real and lasting love.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the September 5, 2010, issue of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Vultus Christi

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sunday, 08 September 2013 07:03

Maria Bambina
Unto us a little girl is born; unto us a daughter is given. “The Holy Spirit will come upon her, and the power of the Most High will overshadow her” (Cf. Lk 1:35). The Word will take flesh in her virginal womb and suckle at her breast. And her name shall be called Full of Grace, Glory of Jerusalem, Joy of Israel, and Mother of God. In Italy she has another name, one that the people love to give her; she is their Maria Bambina, the little Infant Mary.
The Story of an Image
It was in Rome, many years ago, that I encountered the image of Maria Bambina for the first time. I didn’t know quite what to make of it. She looked rather like a doll, all dressed up in lace and satin, resting on her pillow. I knew only that all sorts of people, and especially children, came to pray before her. I saw that that Maria Bambina had stolen their hearts. She attracted the most extraordinary outpouring of tender devotion, and does to this day.
The image of Maria Bambina originated in Milan where the cathedral is dedicated to the Infant Mary. A Poor Clare nun fashioned the image out of wax in 1735. Maria Bambina suffered the vicissitudes of the times under Napoleon. The convent that kept the image was suppressed. Maria Bambina was passed from one “foster home” to another until, in 1885, she found a permanent home in the motherhouse of Milan’s Sisters of Charity. Beginning in 1884 various miracles were attributed to the image of the Infant Mary. She was dressed in new clothes and placed in a new crib in the chapel of the Sisters. Devotion to Maria Bambina spread throughout Italy and then elsewhere in the world.
A Child for Children
The learned and the clever, the theologically sophisticated and those who think that holiness has no need of warmth and no time for tenderness, are baffled by Maria Bambina. But children understand her. Raïssa Maritain understood the Child Mary perfectly; “The Blessed Virgin is the spoiled child of the Blessed Trinity,” she wrote. “She knows no law. Everything yields to her in heaven and on earth. The whole of heaven gazes on her with delight. She plays before the ravished eyes of God himself.”

God With Us
The birth to Joachim and Anna of a little girl “full of grace” (Lk 1:28) set in motion great rolling waves of grace that reach even to us, for she was born to be the Mother of Christ. “And from His fulness have we all received, grace upon grace” (Jn 1:16). All the joy of today’s festival is summed up in the last three words of the Gospel: “God with us” (Mt 1:23).
In the birth of the Child Mary, “those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Lk 1:79) see the first glimmers of the long-awaited Dayspring from on high (cf. Lk 1:78). Joachim and Anna rejoice! Abraham and Sarah rejoice! The ancestors of Jesus Christ rejoice!
Rejoicing Ahead of Time
Today, with good reason, Mother Church gives us the Genealogy of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew. The long list of patriarchs and of prophets, of kings and of warriors, of saints and of sinners is transformed by the birth of Mary. We see all the ancestors of Christ standing on tiptoe to see the joy that comes to them from afar. With the birth of Mary they begin to rejoice ahead of time.
A Virgin Shall Conceive
This is the little girl who will give her consent to the Angel — “Be it done unto me according to thy word” (Lk 1:38) — “therefore the child to be born of her will be called holy, the Son of God” (Lk 1:35). The Mother of the Messiah has arrived. Isaiah’s prophecy is about to be fulfilled: “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel” (Is 7:14).
Her Voice and Her Face
The cries of little Mary announce the arrival of the Bridegroom in the night of history. “I hear my Beloved! Behold He comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills (Ct 2:8). In the daughter of Joachim and Anna we can already see the human features of the Word made flesh. Her face announces His. Speaking at the Sanctuary of the Holy Face in Manoppello on September 1, 2007 Pope Benedict XVI called her, “Our Lady in whose face — more than in any other creature — we can recognize the features of the Incarnate Word.” The face of Maria Bambina already reveals the Human Face of God.
The Voice of the Word
The sound of little Mary’s voice is jubilation to our ears because it means that the voice of the Word is very close! Soon the Beloved will lift up His voice: at Bethlehem in the cries of an infant; at Nazareth as a little boy learning His Hebrew alphabet and beginning to read the Scriptures in the synagogue; at Jerusalem in dialogue with the elders in the Temple; on the Mount of the Beatitudes; in Galilee and in Judea; in the Cenacle and in Gethsemane; on the Cross, saying: “Behold your mother” (Jn 19:27); “I thirst” (Jn 19:28); “Father forgive them” (Lk 23:34); “Father, into thy hands” (Lk 23:46); “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). In the splendour of His resurrection, He will call another Mary by name, and He will ask Peter, “Do you love me?” (Jn 21:17).
The inarticulate cries of the newborn baby Myriam, daughter of Joachim and of Anna, announce all of this. And so we bend over the cradle of Maria Bambina, the Mother of God, and say to her in the words of the Canticle: “O my dove, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely (Ct 2:14).
The Heart of the Mother and the Heart of the Son
In your face, O little Mary, we already see that of Jesus; in your voice, we already hear His. Your voice, O little Mary, is sweet to our ears; your face is lovely to our eyes, for He whom the whole universe cannot contain will be enclosed in your womb. He will grow for nine months beneath your Immaculate Heart. Out of your flesh and blood the Holy Spirit will form a human Heart for the Son of God, the very Heart that, together with yours, will be pierced on Calvary.
Cause of Our Joy
You, O little Mary, Maria Bambina, are the Cause of our Joy! Your appearance in the arms of your mother announces that the Word of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, will soon appear in your arms. And you have but one desire, one joy: to give us your Son, to draw us to Him, that your joy might be ours and that our joy might be fulfilled.
As we celebrate this Holy Sacrifice, we ask Maria Bambina, the little Child Mary, to chase all sadness, all coldness, and all fear from our hearts, that we, like little children, may worthily welcome her Son, her very Flesh and Blood in the holy and life-giving Mysteries.

Vultus Christi

The Earlier Mysteries of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sunday, 08 September 2013 07:06

The image is a detail from Dürer’s Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (1519). I especially like Saint Anne’s motherly hand resting on Our Lady’s shoulder.
For some years now, especially around the Marian feasts of September 8th, September 12th, November 21st, and December 8th, I have “told my beads” while dwelling on five mysteries of the first part of Our Lady’s life. These five mysteries of the Blessed Virgin Mary are:
– the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne (feast December 8th);
– the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (feast September 8th);
– the Most Holy Name of Mary (feast September 12th);
– the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Temple (feast November 21st);
– the Betrothal of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Joseph (feast January 23rd);
There is a particular sweetness in dwelling on these mysteries of Maria Bambina, the Infant Mary, the Child Mary. They distill graces of purity, of childlike simplicity, and of littleness.
All five mysteries are commemorated in the Sacred Liturgy. The liturgical books are rich in texts to nourish the meditation of each one. It is enough to take an antiphon, a verse, a single phrase, and to hold it in the heart while telling one’s beads. The Rosary corresponds to the meditatio and the oratio of monastic prayer; it begins necessarily in lectio divina, the hearing of the Word, and then, gently, almost imperceptibly, draws the soul into contemplatio.
The Rosary is, I am convinced, the surest and easiest school of contemplative prayer. The Rosary decapitates pride, the single greatest obstacle to union with God. The repetition of the Aves, like a stream of pure water, cleanses the heart.

Regnum Christi

Kneel Down and Decide for Christ

| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Father Patrick Butler, LC

Luke 14: 25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, "If any one 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. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ´This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.´ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple."

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to you once again in prayer. Even though I cannot see you, my faith tells me that you are present. You are ready to listen and desire to speak with me. Your presence gives me hope, because you are the all-powerful God, the creator of heaven and earth. You are the source of all that is good in my life. Nothing happens to me without your knowing and permitting it. My hope leads me to love. I want to be one with you in mind and heart, identifying myself with your will and your standards.

Petition: Lord, help me to pick up my cross and follow you.

1. The Crowd and the Disciples: “Great crowds” followed Jesus. His popularity increased. The time was ripe to win over the crowds with some promise of well-being. However, Jesus does not act like a politician. It’s not about winning votes, but about winning souls with a message of salvation. It’s not about empty promises, but about promises of eternal fulfillment for those who follow him. He calls me to be one of his few faithful disciples, who esteem all things as rubbish to attain Christ.

2. Hate and Love: St. John tells me that “God is love.” Jesus himself tells me that the greatest commandments are to love God above all else and to love my neighbor as myself. Why then does he ask me to “hate” so many lovable people and things? Perhaps the better expression is to “renounce.” Jesus asks me to love only one thing — rather, one person — absolutely. Only God should be the absolute center of my life. All other loves come after and are at the service of this supreme love. Is there something or someone that competes with God for first place in my life?

3. Opt for the Cross: If Jesus’ message is not softened, it is a difficult message. Carrying one’s own cross, shouldering the instrument of torture and death is the equivalent of cooperating in one’s own death. That’s what Christ asks me to “sit down and decide” if I am willing to do. It is the condition for becoming his disciple and for making it to the end of my life as a faithful friend and follower of my Lord.

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus Christ, you lead me by example. I thank and praise you, because you go before me and show me the way. You also give me strength to carry my cross every day. So, as I kneel down and consider what you ask of your followers, I decide to undertake this arduous task out of love for you.

Resolution: Looking ahead to what this day holds for me, I can identify my cross. I will resolve to carry it, asking God’s help in prayer and striving to bear it with spiritual joy.

A Gospel to Make You Squirm

by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. on September 6, 2013 ·

When I was a kid, I got the distinct impression there existed a two-track system in Catholicism. Some really decided to go for it. They became priests, nuns, and brothers because they “had a vocation.” They “gave up” lots of things. Like marriage, family, success in business, and lots of creature-comforts.

The rest of us, however, don’t “have a vocation” and therefore don’t really need to run for the gold. It is enough to just finish the race. We don’t have to deprive ourselves of what most people have. We can get married, have kids, climb the corporate ladder, acquire a vacation home and buy a boat. We just need to go to Mass on Sunday, avoid breaking the Ten Commandments, get to confession when we fail, and basically be decent people.

A few years ago I even heard this two track system clearly laid out in a Sunday homily. The priest said the gospel presents us with a radical Jesus and a moderate Jesus. Some, like Mother Teresa, choose to follow the radical Jesus. But we could pick the moderate Jesus if that was more comfortable for us.

In this Sunday’s Gospel Luke 14:25-33, Jesus gives us no such choice. He says “NONE of you can be my disciple if he does not renounce all his possessions.” And probably even more disturbing is this statement: “If ANYONE comes to me without turning his back on his father and mother, his wife and his children, his brothers and sisters, indeed his very self, he cannot be my follower.”

This is an up-front requirement. If you are not willing to do this, don’t bother getting started as a disciple, he says.

Wait a minute. I thought that good Christians are supposed to love their spouses, parents, and kids. And how are you supposed to love your neighbor as yourself if you are renouncing both your neighbor and yourself? Are we all supposed to leave our families, sell all of our possessions, and enter monasteries and convents?

No. That would actually be not only irresponsible but too easy. “Turning your back” on your family does not mean shirking the duty to care for your own. Renouncing your very self does not mean abusing yourself . What Jesus means is being radically detached from family, friends and self-gratification in favor of attachment to God, his truth, his will. There is a love that is about giving and there is a love that is about enjoying. We can never stop giving to others what is for their true and deepest good. But there are times when we must renounce the enjoyment, opinion, and approval of others in order to be faithful to the truth.

The best way to see this is in the life of a very real person who lived out this radical vocation to holiness. Thomas More thought joining the monks who educated him, but realized that he was called to marriage and family. And so he took a job with the government, got married, and had kids. He rose through government service to become the Chancellor of England under Henry VIII. He had a magnificent mansion on the ThamesRiver where he entertained his friend the King as well some of the most famous men and women of Europe. He had a great sense of humor, a deep relationship with his kids, a profound prayer life, and loved to write fiction, satire, and theology.

Then his boss Henry VIII divorced, remarried, and justified it by breaking allegiance with the Pope and making himself the head of the Church of England. King Henry wanted all to take an oath swearing allegiance to his new order. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon. All of the bishops signed save one. All of Thomas’s friends did the same. But Thomas knew signing would violate his conscience, compromise his integrity, offend God, and encourage others in the doing of evil. He loved God, self and others too much to do this. So he lost the esteem of his friends and his king. He resigned his position and lost his income. He ultimately lost his head rather than deny his heart.

Few of us will enjoy the privileges enjoyed by Thomas or be called to make the same sacrifices. But little choices, every day, arise that make plain where our true loyalties lie.

One Bread, One Body

Language: English | Español

All Issues > Volume 29, Issue 5

<< Sunday, September 8, 2013 >>

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time

Wisdom 9:13-18
Philemon 9-10, 12-17
View Readings

Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14, 17
Luke 14:25-33
Similar Reflections

PRICE-CONSCIOUS OR PRIZE-CONSCIOUS?

"Sit down and calculate the outlay..." —Luke 14:28

Jesus tells us to renounce everything exterior and interior: all our possessions (Lk 14:33) and our very self (Lk 14:26). The price of being Jesus' disciple is extremely high: it costs our all.

Many choose not to pay the price to be Jesus' disciple. This choice results in disaster. If we won't voluntarily pay the price now, we will pay it later. Our life will be a literal joke (Lk 14:29-30) as we are overrun by the enemy, Satan (see Lk 14:31-32). How sad to not renounce our possessions; when we hold them more valuable than Jesus, they only weigh us down (see Wis 9:15), and "choke" us, preventing us from bearing fruit (Mt 13:22).

Jesus tells us to count the cost, or "calculate the outlay," as we make our decision whether or not to be His disciple (Lk 14:28). He told the parable of the treasure hidden in a field with that calculation in mind. The price to purchase Jesus our Treasure is everything we have (Mt 13:44). However, He wants us to also consider the prize, life on high with Him forever (Phil 3:14).

Is it hard for you to renounce your hopes for the future? If so, you need to exchange your hopes and dreams for His. When you want what Jesus wants, you'll find you already have everything "through Him, with Him, and in Him" (see 1 Cor 3:21-23). So "fix your eyes on Jesus" (Heb 3:1), then keep them fixed on Him (Heb 12:2). You'll hardly notice the price when you focus on the Prize.

Prayer: Father, grant me a complete change of heart that I may follow Jesus with greater faithfulness, zeal, and love.

Promise: "Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple." —Lk 14:27

Praise: Praise Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith! (Heb 12:2) All glory, honor, and praise be to the Lamb of God!

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