Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear Friends,
Jesus boldly tells us in today’s gospel, “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.” These words are radical, and might be confusing to us at first. How can Jesus, who embodies divine love and reconciliation, be telling us to hate one another in order to be his disciple?
He is laying out the cost of discipleship. “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?” Before we say yes to follow Jesus as his disciple, we must know what it will cost us. The cost of discipleship is not one hour on Sundays, or a certain number of volunteer hours, or a promise to be a good person. Jesus is telling us that the cost of discipleship is everything. As we follow Jesus, He asks us to surrender everything to Him: every relationship, every dream, every possession...
Why is this necessary for discipleship? It is because we must be detached from worldly things and human loves in order to receive all that God wants to give us. In Matthew 19:29, Jesus promises, “Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.” This is a promise beyond what we could ever dream of! For everything that we sacrifice in order to follow Christ in this life, He promises one hundred times more, and eternal life!
The cost of discipleship is everything in this life, but the rewards are infinite and eternal. Today, we can ask ourselves: Is there anything in my life that I am not willing to surrender to Christ? A relationship, a habit, a career aspiration, a material possession? Let us pray for the grace to be detached from the good things of this life in order to receive the infinite blessings that Christ wants to give us through discipleship with Him. In the words of Pope Benedict XVI: “Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything.”
God bless,
Emily Broderick, Penn FOCUS & Nazareth Group