Today Mother Theresa has been canonized a Saint.\u00a0 And clearly, Mother Theresa was a disciple of Christ.<\/p>\n
So, what does it take to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Well, that is the topic of our readings today.\u00a0 And, clearly, one cannot become a disciple of Christ\u00a0 without putting aside conventional wisdom, and embracing wisdom from above.\u00a0 That\u2019s the message to all of us this morning in our readings; and it\u2019s the message that St. Theresa of Calcutta broadcast throughout her life.<\/p>\n
First, let us consider the context of the Gospel.\u00a0 Jesus has been working miracles, curing the lame and the sick.\u00a0 And a great multitude has gathered and is following him.\u00a0 The people are enthusiastic and hungry for more.\u00a0 But Jesus turns on them suddenly, and says:\u00a0 \u201cIf any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, \u00a0\u00a0Wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, \u00a0\u00a0He cannot be my disciple\u201d.\u00a0 Pretty strong words!<\/p>\n
Some of the great doctors of the Church have struggled over those words, even asking the question,\u00a0 \u201cHow can we be told by Jesus we must hate our own flesh and blood, when he has also told us to love everyone\u201d?\u00a0 But you see, Jesus was a master at shock treatment with many of his words and preaching.\u00a0 This is a perfect example, because our fathers, mothers, wives, children, brothers and sisters, and all of the pleasures that life has to offer, must be secondary to our relationship with God if we are to find our way into the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 And it takes shock therapy like Jesus\u2019 words today to get us to realize that.<\/p>\n
Simply put, we need to \u201chate\u201d anything that tends to derail God\u2019s plan for us, and our efforts to live it accordingly, even when the obstacles are our loved ones and living life for ourselves.\u00a0 Yes, we are being asked to sacrifice our personal interests when that is needed to assure that we make an effort to follow Jesus.<\/p>\n
If you are willing to look closely at your life, you can see areas where life gets in the way.\u00a0 Sleeping in on Sunday Morning; sports events, family parties, trips out of town, and kids sporting events are a few examples.\u00a0 None of those things are bad, and in fact, they are all good as far as that goes.\u00a0 But they can be obstacles in maintaining our relationship with God and in following after Jesus if we allow them to.<\/p>\n
Our second reading gives an interesting example about the kind of sacrifice we are called to make.\u00a0 You see, Paul\u2019s letter to Philemon was a letter to a well-to-do person whom Onesimus had served as a slave.\u00a0 Onesimus had escaped, and ended up attending to Paul while Paul was in prison.\u00a0 Paul is sending Onesimus back to Philemon, but there is a catch.\u00a0 Paul is asking Philemon to accept Onesimus as an equal.\u00a0 So, in a time and culture in which slavery was accepted, and a personal slave considered a status symbol, Paul is asking Philemon to forgive Onesimus for escaping; refrain from punishing him; refrain from putting him back into slavery; and accept him as an equal. \u00a0\u00a0Wow! That was asking a lot.<\/p>\n
But the reality is that all of us need to let go of something that\u2019s holding us back from being the Christian we are called to be.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s some combination of those little things I mentioned, but it can also be some major attachment or habit or personal relationship, like the one that Philemon had for his slave.<\/p>\n
And notice that the thing that might hold you back the most, is what society thinks of you.\u00a0 For example, if Philemon accepted Onesimus back as an equal, then Roman society would have thought of him as a fool, a weakling, a loser.\u00a0 That kind of societal pressure can be hard to take.<\/p>\n
But Jesus tells us that:\u00a0 \u201cWhoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.\u201d\u00a0 Yes, we have to embrace our crosses and follow him, turning away from what other people think, turning away from gratifying our flesh and blood.<\/p>\n
But we cannot do it alone, can we.\u00a0 Solomon understood that, as we saw in the first reading.\u00a0 First, Solomon pointed out how difficult it is for us to grasp the mind of God on our own.\u00a0 Then he writes:\u00a0 \u201cOr who can know your counsel, unless you give Wisdom and send your holy spirit from on high\u201d.\u00a0 Yes, it is the Holy Spirit that we need to identify God\u2019s will for us, and our associated cross. \u00a0Our cross is simply the obstacles that the world and the agents of evil throw into our path along the way.\u00a0 Those obstacles can be a pile of little things that divert us; or a major obstacle like the one Philemon had, including peer pressure to belong to our current culture.<\/p>\n
So, let all of us reflect a bit on our lives.\u00a0 First, call upon the Holy Spirit for the Counsel of the most high.\u00a0 Then ask yourself this question.\u00a0 What is holding you back from accepting your cross?\u00a0 What do you have to turn away from, even \u201chate\u201d, in order to accept Jesus\u2019 invitation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Wis 9: 13-18b; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14: 25-33 By Deacon Larry Brockman Today Mother Theresa has been canonized a Saint.\u00a0 And clearly, Mother Theresa was a disciple of Christ. So, what does it take to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Well, that is the topic of our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[425,426,427],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=884"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":885,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions\/885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}