Reflection for 11/8/17

“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.”  I don’t know about you but whenever I hear this reading, I am always taken aback.  I thought Jesus came to teach us to love one another, in fact St. Paul says in the first reading, “Love is the fulfillment of the law.”  So how do we reconcile that with Jesus’ teaching that we must hate our father and mother, wife and children, brothers, and sisters?  

 

First of all, I think we have a different connotation of the word, “hate” than the way Jesus intended it to be used.  When we hear the word, we oftentimes think of an impulse of anger and outright rejection of another person, however, when Jesus uses the word, he is using it more to mean “detachment.”  Part of the law is to honor your father and your mother, so Jesus wouldn’t intend the former version of hatred because it would be a direct contradiction of the commandments.  On the other hand, it makes sense that he calls us to be detached completely from everything in this life in order to follow him.  He is making a very shocking statement in order to capture your attention because the cross is THAT shocking.

 

It is not easy to be a Christian.  Far too often, I think we have watered down Christianity to some “feel good” religion where everyone is happy, go-lucky all the time.  What we forget is that in the early Church, men and women laid down their lives for Christ daily.  People were slaughtered simply because they professed belief in Jesus as the Son of God.  St. Agnes was a fourteen year old girl who was killed because she devoted herself to God, St. Peter was crucified upside down because he was a Christian, St. Bartholemew was skinned alive for his belief in Christ.  Christianity is not a “feel good” religion, Christianity takes dedication, self-discipline, and a commitment to the Cross of Christ.  The only way we can ever hope to be willing to lay down our lives for the Lord like those great Saints who have gone before us is if we first of all are convicted with the truth, namely that Jesus is the Lord and Savior.  Without this conviction, then we cannot hope to stand strong in the face of evil.  

 

Each saint who has given their lives for Christ did so out of a love for God and for their neighbor—they understood Jesus’ command that they must “hate” their very own lives in order to be his disciple.  They put their entire lives at the service of the Church to the point of laying down their lives for others.  As we continue into this National Vocation Awareness Week, let us pray with the question, “How are you calling me to be of service to the Church, Lord?”  And don’t be afraid to consider that he might be calling you to a great responsibility as a priest, sister, brother, or deacon.  If the Lord calls us, he will give us the grace we need to live out his call.  What do we have to be afraid of?  Nothing, not even death itself for the cross of Christ is the ultimate sign of victory.  Let us pray about what fears we might have holding us back from considering a call, and let us ask God to calm our fears and our doubts that we might serve him and his Church as he desires us to.