Image source: A Capuchin Journey
On the civil calendar it's Labor Day but on the church calendar it's the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.
This weekend's scriptures and commentary on them are right here and if your bringing young ones to Mass, hints for helping children prepare to hear the Word can be found here.
Every Sunday's worship is colored by the universe of experience worshipers bring to the sanctuary. This weekend, the majority of American worshipers will be celebrating a holiday when they countenance these words from Jesus:
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.
Happy Labor Day!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.
The preacher's task with such texts is not an easy one. The gospel is paired with a passage from the Book of Wisdom which echoes wonder in the face of God's inscrutable wisdom (minus that harsh vocabulary from the Lord's mouth.
And if those two texts weren't difficult enough for the preacher to deal with, throw in the passage from Paul's letter to Philomen and the question of Onesiumus' status as a slave!
Not an easy slate to preach on... got any ideas for the homilist?
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments
I think I would focus in on the statement you quoted from Jesus about "hating". There are so many acts that bring hate into this world. War, murders, abuse, prejudice, betrayals, divorce, poverty ... I think the list is very long. If you can't rid yourself of hate you will never find peace, therefore never find God.
ReplyDeleteOf course "hating" the family would be a literary form of language. Jesus knows how hard it is to leave his family to pursue the life his Father intended for him to live. He knows how difficult it is to let go of material comforts of house and home to become part of something better...he did it himself. Sometimes it's not our "things" we must give up. Sometimes it's easy to do in this world and we put our personal beliefs,our fears or those of our society over the teachings of the Gospel. The controversial building of the mosque in NYC comes to mind as well as immigration reform and other moral and social justice teachings. Jesus,who was mocked and ridiculed, carried his cross and tells us we are able to do the same for the sake of the world. We can do this, we are able because he is always present for us, in many ways.
ReplyDeleteI think Jesus' words are more about letting go of our own ego so we can focus ourself on the work of the Father. It's really not about us...but about HIM! Letting go of our own self and that which makes us who we are in our own eyes I think one could interpret as "hating."
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you, Mike-
ReplyDeleteand, I must admit that I am still trying to wrap myself around your last sentence, to really understand what you are saying, but even not fully understanding, somehow it makes such a strong statement- such a strong impact on me...
thank you.
and CP, I wish I could give you some suggestions, but I'm afraid that I have my hands (and mind and heart) full with just preparing to proclaim one of these readings this weekend...
but, for what it's worth, you are in my prayers...
You are welcome Michelle...I apologize for my lack of clarity. I was trying to say that "to lose (hate) one's life is to save it." Or perhaps as Brother Patrick has stated so eloquently...Who we are is really who we are in God nothing more.
ReplyDeleteFr. F...
ReplyDeleteFor my homily, I'm working on the idea of great work left unfinished ... like that tower mentioned in the gospel. We need to know what we are getting into before we begin any work, and Jesus is calling on us to enter discipleship with our eyes wide open, so the great work of our lives WILL be brought to fulfillment.
Or something like that. :-)
I'll post it when I'm done...
Deacon Greg
Mike- I think my lack of understanding was more to do with me than with how you said it- but thank you very much for the clarification- it really helped. And thanks for the reminder of Brother Patrick's quote- I needed that.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Deacon G...
ReplyDeleteI think I'm gonna dive in and begin by tackling what Jesus says about "hating" - and work towards a call to evaluate our relationships with one another and with the Lord.
These are not easy scriptures to work with!
(And welcome home from vacation!)
I work in Campus Ministry. This is the second Sunday that students are on campus. You can imagine my reaction to the opening lines about "hating father and mother, sister and brother" and how that will sound to freshmen who have recently left home! But in a way, the college experience of leaving home is a good way to understand the "cost of discipleship" Jesus is demanding. Some things are worth leaving home for--and leaving all of the ways we have previously oriented our lives.
ReplyDeleteIn my own thinking, I've been comparing that with the article on the book "Almost Christian" that appeared last week on CNN. Contrasting a passionless "be nice" Christianity with the demands Jesus makes of radical discipleship can be very helpful. The author argues that the therapeutic approach has little claim on young Christians and it is jettisoned easily when challenged or other distractions make a claim.