1. Wis 9:
13-18b
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2. Phlm.9b-10,
12-17
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Luke 14:25-33
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" ON
DISCIPLESHIP"
I once received
whatsapp text message from my friend which lead as, "1 Give God what is
right and not what is left; 2) A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing; 3) He who
keels before God can stand before anyone ; 4) In the sentence of life, the
devil may be a comma but never let him be the period( full stop) 5) are you
wrinkled with burden? come to the Church for a facelift; 6) When praying don't give God instructions,
just report for duty; 7) We don't change
God's message."
In our today's gospel
Jesus speaks of authentic discipleship. He said: " 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," ( v.26). And the other
one: " Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my
disciple," ( v.27).
Let us ask ourselves
this question that why does Jesus seem to use a strong language that we must
"hate" our families and even or own life? The meaning of discipleship
is a total commitment to follow Christ and not to let anything, not even our
own lives, stand in the way of finishing our course. One prominent theologian
Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, discipleship is to " abandon attachments to the
world" and to " surrender
ourselves to Christ and union with His death."
In the gospel the Lord ( Luke 14:25-33) the Lord mentions three
reasons that block discipleship. The first block is Relationships. " If
anyone comes to me without hating his mother, wife and children, brothers and
sisters even his own life cannot be my disciple." The second block is Lack
of perseverance. " This one began to build but did
not have the resources to finish." The third block is Possessions. "
Everyone of you who does not renounce his possessions cannot be my
disciple." What is that blocking you from being the Lord's disciple? What
is it that is preventing you from doing your mission for the Lord?
What can we say with
regard to the expression " to hate"?
this often meant " to prefer less" or " love less"
Jesus used strong language as I have said before to make clear that nothing should take
precedence or first place in our lives over God. To be in the first place is
everyone's dream. Like for example: " I want to be the best in my
career;" " I want my company to be the leader in the industry"
and so on and so forth.
Let us also go to the
second statement about carrying of one's cross. The cross is the symbol of
Christianity. Crosses mark or churches
and adorn our altars. We begin and end our prayers with the sign of the cross.
At the close of Mass the priest blesses the people by moving his right hand in
the form of a cross. We are so familiar with this symbol and we are in danger
to forget that in the beginning it was
not a mere ornament or symbol but a most efficient form of capital punishment.
When Luke in today's gospel refers to a disciple taking up the cross, he uses
the words " carry his cross,"( v.27). The Greek word for " to
carry" is "bastazo."
This is the same word that Luke used to refer to Jesus carrying His Cross to
Calvary ( Lk 23:26). As such Luke literally expected the disciples of Jesus to
follow in His suffering and death.
At the end of this
reflection let us reflect on the following article. This article has ten most
wanted persons, by reading and understanding this article I think we will live
and practice what this article says about the ten most wanted persons, the ten
most wanted persons are:
The person who tries to be the right example to
every child rather than talking about it.
The
person who has a passion to help rather than a passion to be helped.
The
person who is willing to say, " I was wrong, I was sorry."
The
person who will look at temptation squarely and say," No!"
The
person who puts God's business above any other.
The
person who throws himself totally into a project, then give a credit for its
success to his helpers.
The
person who has a ready smile and a pat on the back for others.
The
person who brings his children to Church rather than sending them alone.
The
person who can see his own faults before he sees the faults of others.
The
person who gives his money, time and talent without thought of return.
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