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Priorities and Choices
Hate! Your Father, Mother, Wife, Children, Brothers and Sisters even your own life. Hate is a very powerful word, a word that I believe most of us try to avoid. Today’s gospel is not saying we are to hate one another. Quite the opposite is being demanded. We are to Love God above and beyond everyone and everything if we are to be his disciples. Any and all that is contrary to Jesus must be detested, because outside of God there is no salvation. This is another way of saying: whoever loves father, mother, son or daughter, more than Jesus is not worthy of him. Whoever does not take up his cross and follow Jesus is not worthy of him (Mt.10:37-38).
Not so long ago I converted to the Catholic Faith. This process is called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (better known as the RCIA). It is a series of classes on the teachings of the Church, that enables one to freely decide, is the Catholic Faith the choice for them? At class one evening we were discussing what it meant to Love God first and foremost. With all our heart, mind, and soul. My initial thought at that time in my life was: this teaching is hard. I have been blessed with great parents, a loving wife, two terrific children, three beautiful sisters and a wonderful brother (Not perfect but irreplaceable). I questioned, loving God more than them?
God spoke quietly to my heart: “Tom, can’t you see that there is no love outside of Me. I am Love. And it is through my love that you love, yourself and others.” When this true love is united there are no words or means to describe the encounter. I realized that through the grace of God, and the love of Jesus, that my love for all mankind was deeply enriched beyond human wisdom. Don’t let Satan trick you into believing that the crosses in our life are not necessary (and I’m not talking about a gold cross dangling from a chain). At times there is need for sacrifice, need to forgo possessions and pleasure.
Our yes to following Jesus, and renouncing our possessions, begins at our baptism, is strengthened in Confirmation, held together through Reconciliation and nourished in and through the Eucharist.
The cost of discipleship is a lived experience. We go to great lengths over major decisions in our lives, for example, who will my friends be, who will I marry, will I marry at all, or will I take a vow to priesthood, how will I raise my children, where will I live, where will I work? All of these decisions and many more bring on their own surprises and new challenges that we do not initially consider. The same is true when one commits him or herself to discipleship, to follow Jesus. Those who follow him are not superhuman, they are ordinary people, living ordinary lives, serving an extraordinary Saviour.
On the surface saying yes to Jesus might appear hard at times, so we pick and choose or likes and dislikes, we become cafeteria style Christians. Some may even say it’s no fun being a Christian. But this is not true. If Jesus is our first and primary goal, and we do not get caught up in the limited possessions of this world, if we are willing to take the plunge of faith, God will not be outdone in generosity. He will fill us with a joy that far exceeds any attractions of this world. He will reward us with an inner peace that the world cannot give.