SEPTEMBER 08, 2019 : TWENTY-THIRD SUDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 129

Reading 1WIS 9:13-18B

 Who can know God’s counsel,
 or who can conceive what the LORD intends?
 For the deliberations of mortals are timid,
 and unsure are our plans.
 For the corruptible body burdens the soul
 and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
 And scarce do we guess the things on earth,
 and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;
 but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?
 Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom
 and sent your holy spirit from on high?
 And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.

Responsorial PsalmPS 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 AND 17

R. (1) In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
 are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
 the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
 but by evening wilts and fades.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Teach us to number our days aright,
 that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
 that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
 prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

Reading 2PHMN 9-10, 12-17

I, Paul, an old man,
and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,
whose father I have become in my imprisonment;
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
I should have liked to retain him for myself,
so that he might serve me on your behalf
in my imprisonment for the gospel,
but I did not want to do anything without your consent,
so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.
Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,
that you might have him back forever,
no longer as a slave
but more than a slave, a brother,
beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,
as a man and in the Lord.
So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.

AlleluiaPS 119:135

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
and teach me your laws.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 14:25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“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.
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?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”

www.usccb.org

Meditation: The true cost of discipleship

Why does the Lord Jesus say we must 'hate' our families and even ourselves (Luke 14:26)? In Biblical times the expression 'to hate' often meant to 'prefer less'. Jesus used strong language to make clear that nothing should take precedence or first place over God. God our heavenly Father created us in his image and likeness to be his beloved sons and daughters. He has put us first in his love and concern for our well-being and happiness. Our love for him is a response to his exceeding love and kindness towards us. True love is costly because it holds nothing back from the beloved - it is ready to give all and sacrifice all for the beloved. God the Father gave us his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who freely offered up his life for us on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His sacrificial death brought us pardon and healing, new life in the Spirit and peace with God.

The cost of following Jesus as his disciples
Jesus willingly embraced the cross, not only out of obedience to his Father's will, but out of a merciful love for each one of us in order to set us free from slavery to sin, Satan, and everything that would keep us from his love, truth, and goodness. Jesus knew that the cross was the Father's way for him to achieve victory over sin and death - and glory for our sake as well. He counted the cost and said 'yes' to his Father's will. If we want to share in his glory and victory, then we, too, must 'count the cost' and say 'yes" to his call to "take up our cross and follow him" as our Lord and Savior.

What is the 'way of the cross' for you and me? It means that when my will crosses with God's will, then his will must be done. The way of the cross involves sacrifice, the sacrifice of laying down my life each and every day for Jesus' sake. What makes such sacrifice possible and "sweet" for us is the love of God poured out for us in the blood of Christ who cleanses us and makes us a new creation in him. Paul the Apostle tells us that "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). We can never outmatch God in his merciful love and kindness towards us. He always gives us more than we can expect or imagine. Do you allow the Holy Spirit to fill your heart and transform your life with the overflowing love and mercy of God?

The wise plan ahead to avert failure and shame
What do the twin parables of the tower builder and a ruler on a war campaign have in common (Luke 14:28-32)? Both the tower builder and the ruler risked serious loss if they did not carefully plan ahead to make sure they could finish what they had begun. In a shame and honor culture people want at all costs to avoid being mocked by their community for failing to complete a task which they had begun in earnest. This double set of parables echoes the instruction given in the Old Testament Book of Proverbs: "By wisdom a house is built" and "by wise guidance you can wage a war" to ensure victory (Proverbs 24:3-6).

In Jesus' time every landowner who could afford it built a wall around his orchard or vineyard as a protection from intruders who might steal or destroy his produce. A tower was usually built in a corner of the wall and a guard posted especially during harvest time when thieves would likely try to make off with the goods. Starting a building-project, like a watchtower, and leaving it unfinished because of poor planning or insufficient funds would invite the scorn of the whole village. Likewise a king who decided to wage a war against an opponent who was much stronger, would be considered foolish if he did not come up with a plan that had a decent chance of success. Counting the cost and investing wisely are necessary conditions for securing a good return on the investment.

The great exchange
If you prize something of great value and want to possess it, it's natural to ask what it will cost you before you make a commitment to invest in it. Jesus was utterly honest and spared no words to tell his disciples that it would cost them dearly to be his disciples - it would cost them their whole lives and all they possessed in exchange for the new life and treasure of God's kingdom. The Lord Jesus leaves no room for compromise or concession. We either give our lives over to him entirely or we keep them for ourselves. Paul the Apostle reminds us, "We are not our own. We were bought with a price" ( 1 Corinthians 6:19b,20). We were once slaves to sin and a kingdom of darkness and oppression, but we have now been purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ who has ransomed us from a life of darkness and destruction so we could enter his kingdom of light and truth. Christ has set us free to choose whom we will serve in this present life as well as in the age to come - God's kingdom of light, truth, and goodness or Satan's kingdom of darkness, lies, and deception. There are no neutral parties - we are either for God's kingdom or against it.

Who do you love first - above all else?
The love of God compels us to choose who or what will be first in our lives. To place any relationship or any possession above God is a form of idolatry - worshiping the creature in place of the Creator and Ruler over all he has made. Jesus challenges his disciples to examine who and what they love first and foremost. We can be ruled and mastered by many different things - money, drugs, success, power or fame. Only one Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, can truly set us free from the power of sin, greed, and destruction. The choice is ours - who will we serve and follow - the path and destiny the Lord Jesus offers us or the path we choose in opposition to God's will and purpose for our lives. It boils down to choosing between life and death, truth and falsehood, goodness and evil. If we choose for the Lord Jesus and put our trust in him, he will show us the path that leads to true joy and happiness with our Father in heaven.

"Lord Jesus, you are my Treasure, my Life, and my All. There is nothing in this life that can outweigh the joy of knowing, loving, and serving you all the days of my life. Take my life and all that I have and make it yours for your glory now and forever."

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Jesus permits us to love family but not more than God, by Cyril of Alexandria, 375-444 A.D.

"He says, 'He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me' (Matthew 10:37). By adding 'more than me,' it is plain that he permits us to love, but not more than we love him. He demands our highest affection for himself and that very correctly. The love of God in those who are perfect in mind has something in it superior both to the honor due to parents and to the natural affection felt for children." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 105)

www.dailyscripture.net

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C

Note: Where a Scripture text is underlined in the body of this discussion, it is recommended that the reader look up and read that passage.

1st Reading - Wisdom 9:13-18b

The Book of Wisdom is unique in the Bible as being the product of a Greek frame of mind, for the author is a Hellenized Jew, thoroughly familiar with Greek culture, writing probably at Alexandria in about 50 B.C.

Against the background of Egyptian worship of animals and mockery of Jewish trust in God, the author devotes much of the first part of the book to the ineffectiveness of such mockery when God has promised immortality to those who remain faithful. Using Greek modes of thought, he is the first to express the hope of after-life in terms of immortality of the individual soul. In the 2nd section of the book Solomon, the master of wisdom (to whom authorship of the book is conventionally attributed), speaks in praise of Wisdom. This reaches its high point in the descriptions of Wisdom as God’s own power at work in the world. The third section of the book is devoted to a rather flowery history, concentrating chiefly on the ineffective opposition of the Egyptians to God’s people at the time of the Exodus. Using Jewish legends and other amplification of the biblical account, the author points a contrast between the wonders God worked for Israel and the adverse effect of the same wonders on the Egyptians, stressing constantly the folly of Egyptian worship of animals and idols.

Perhaps the single-most important contribution of the book consists in its reflections on Wisdom, and especially the personification of Wisdom as God’s agent in the world, yet sharing intimately in His nature. The ground is prepared for the understanding of Jesus as the incarnate Wisdom of God. It is also valuable to see Judaism beyond the frontiers of Palestine, at grips with the varied worship of the Greco-Roman world, and to see it developing such ideas as that of the individual as a child of God. Because it was written after 400 B.C. and in Greek, the Book of Wisdom is not in the Hebrew canon of Scripture, and consequently it does not appear in the Protestant Bibles.

Today we hear the conclusion of Solomon’s prayer for Wisdom.

13    For what man knows God’s counsel, or who can conceive what our LORD intends?
14    For the deliberations of mortals are timid,

Uncertain

and unsure are our plans. 15 For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.

This verse is reminiscent of Plato. It has caused the author to be falsely accused of a dualism, which pronounces matter evil. In fact, he simply states that our deliberations are weak and earthbound because of the body and its concerns.

16 And scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in heaven, who can search them out? 17 Or who ever knew your counsel,

The Greek word boulē, translated here as “counsel,” is probably not the plan of God, but what God wishes people to do (He counsels, but do they listen?).

except you had given Wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high?

Wisdom is a personification of the functions of Yahweh. In earlier wisdom literature, wisdom was an effect of the spirit of God. Here, Wisdom is identified with the spirit of the Lord and becomes the internal principle of physical and moral life. The Hebrews did not conceive of humans as constituted of a material body and a spiritual soul; the human being was a unity.

18a,b And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.

2nd Reading - Philemon 9-10, 12-17

Philemon was a wealthy Colossian; a personal friend of Paul, who had converted him to the faith. He had a slave called Onesimus (O-nis-see-mus), who robbed his master and fled to Rome where he hoped to escape capture by disappearing into the large population. The grace of God led the poor runaway slave to the prison-house of St. Paul. The apostle took compassion on him, received him with tenderness, and won him for Christ. Then he sent him back to his master in Colossae with a letter to plead for him – not only to save him from a severe penalty, but to ask for him to be shown sympathy, affection, and Christian brotherhood. It is this appeal that we hear today.

The result of the appeal cannot be doubted. Tradition has it that Onesimus became bishop of Ephesus and suffered martyrdom in Rome about the same time as St. Ignatius of Antioch (AD 109-110).

9    I [ ], Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus.

“Paul has not used ‘prisoner for Christ Jesus’ in any other epistle as a part of his name, though he has used it in Ephesians and in Philippians as a form of proclamation. Thus, I think it of more importance that he says he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus than an apostle. Indeed, the apostles gloried that they were worthy to suffer abuse for the name of Jesus Christ.” [Saint Jerome (A.D. 386}, Commentary on the Epistle to Philemon]

10    I urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment;

Saint Paul alludes to Onesimus’s conversion. “Onesimus” means “profitable one” and Paul implies that this slave, now a Christian, will live up to his name.

12 I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. 13 I should have liked to retain him for myself, so that he might serve me on your behalf in my imprisonment for the gospel,

“Paul indicates that had he kept Onesimus, the result would have been that he could serve Paul as an extension of Philemon’s service and thus have been a source of gain for
Philemon.” [Theodore of Mopsuestia (died A.D. 428), Commentary on Philemon]

14    but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.

Paul acknowledges the master’s right to the slave, but hints that he would like to have him back to work with him.

15    Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever,

The slave is now returning more faithful than ever – additionally, a new relationship exists between them: both are now Christians, related in a way that not even death can undo.

“Onesimus’ flight has become the source of good things to him.” [Theodoret of Cyr (died A.D. 466), Commentary on Philemon]

16    no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord.

Onesimus, like Philemon, is an adopted child of God through baptism (see Romans 8:15).

17    So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.

Gospel - Luke 14:25-33

People are now streaming from all the streets and lanes. The poor and the maimed and blind and lame now cured (v21) form great crowds surrounding Jesus. In last week’s reading Jesus had told the crowd that attendance at the heavenly banquet depends upon an invitation from God, and God invites those who recognize their lowliness and their need of salvation. Jesus now demands total dedication from His disciples.

25 Great crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and addressed them, 26 “If any one 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.

This does not mean abandoning or ignoring them, but loving them less than they love God.

27    Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

The Greek word used here for “take up” is identical to the one used by John when he describes Jesus on the way to Calvary. Luke here expects a very close – we might even say, literal – following of Jesus in His suffering and death.

28    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? 29 Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him 30 and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ 31 Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? 32 But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. 33 In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

There is a cost to being a disciple of Jesus – you cannot act on impulse, but only on a carefully considered program of involvement.

---

St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Picayune, MS http://www.scborromeo.org

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, LUKE 14:25-33
(Wisdom 9:13-18b; Psalm 90; Philemon 9-10, 12-17)

KEY VERSE: "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple" (v. 27).
TO KNOW: As Jesus drew closer to his destiny in Jerusalem, he asked his followers to consider whether or not they were prepared to continue the journey. Were they ready to renounce everything, even personal relationships that might interfere with their following him? Jesus asked his disciples to think carefully about the demands that were ahead of them before they made this commitment. He used two examples to explain the need to be prepared. Before a builder could begin construction, he must make an assessment of his materials; otherwise, he might not be able to complete the job. A ruler should weigh the strength of his army before going to battle, or else he might be defeated. Only those who were fully prepared would be able to follow Jesus to the cross that awaited him.
TO LOVE: Pray for those in ministry who make great sacrifices for the sake of the gospel.
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to examine my spiritual strengths and weaknesses so that I can follow you faithfully.

www.togetherwithgodsword.net

Sunday 8 September 2019

23RD WEEK | Week III Psalter

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wisdom 9:13-18. Psalm 89(90):3-6, 12-14. Philemon 9-10, 12-17. Luke 14:25-33
In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge – Psalm 89(90):3-6, 12-14
‘Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple’

Gerard Manley Hopkins, early in his priesthood, stepped away from his passionate love of writing. He renounced those skills and burnt his poetry. Subsequently, wise superiors advised him to return to his creations and he produced some of his finest poems. One of them is a daily prayer for my friend.

Naturally we love our families and friends and we praise and thank God for their presence in our lives. Jesus asks that we step back from these relationships and speak to him about the cares and concerns that eat up much of our attention. Illnesses, addictions, loss of income cloud a clear vision of Jesus, waiting quietly, waiting to share in the troubles. Being able to speak with him eases the anxious heart. This spring let us determine to celebrate and use our gifts to give joy to someone less able. May our Creator God sustain us in this.

www.pray.com.au

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Saint of the Day for September 8

 

The Birth of the Virgin | fresco by Giotto

The Story of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Church has celebrated Mary’s birth since at least the sixth century. A September birth was chosen because the Eastern Church begins its Church year with September. The September 8 date helped determine the date for the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.

Scripture does not give an account of Mary’s birth. However, the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James fills in the gap. This work has no historical value, but it does reflect the development of Christian piety. According to this account, Anna and Joachim are infertile but pray for a child. They receive the promise of a child who will advance God’s plan of salvation for the world. Such a story, like many biblical counterparts, stresses the special presence of God in Mary’s life from the beginning.

Saint Augustine connects Mary’s birth with Jesus’ saving work. He tells the earth to rejoice and shine forth in the light of her birth. “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is changed.” The opening prayer at Mass speaks of the birth of Mary’s Son as the dawn of our salvation, and asks for an increase of peace.

---

Reflection

We can see every human birth as a call for new hope in the world. The love of two human beings has joined with God in his creative work. The loving parents have shown hope in a world filled with travail. The new child has the potential to be a channel of God’s love and peace to the world.

This is all true in a magnificent way in Mary. If Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s love, Mary is the foreshadowing of that love. If Jesus has brought the fullness of salvation, Mary is its dawning.

Birthday celebrations bring happiness to the celebrant as well as to family and friends. Next to the birth of Jesus, Mary’s birth offers the greatest possible happiness to the world. Each time we celebrate her birth, we can confidently hope for an increase of peace in our hearts and in the world at large.

https://www.franciscanmedia.org

Lectio Divina: 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)

Lectio Divina

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Conditions of discipleship of Jesus
Luke 14:25-33

Opening prayer

Shaddai, God of the mountain,
You who make of our fragile life
the rock of Your dwelling place,
lead our mind
to strike the rock of the desert,
so that water may gush to quench our thirst. 

May the poverty of our feelings
cover us as with a mantle in the darkness of the night
and may it open our heart to hear the echo of silence
until the dawn,
wrapping us with the light of the new morning,
may bring us,
with the spent embers of the fire of the shepherds of the Absolute
who have kept vigil for us close to the divine Master,
the flavor of the holy memory.

1. LECTIO

a) The text:

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “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. 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? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

b) A moment of silence:

Let us allow the voice of the Word to resonate within us. 

2. MEDITATIO

a) Some questions:

- “If any man comes to Me without hating . . . . he cannot be My disciple”: Are we convinced that we must get to the point of separating ourselves from all that ties our hearts, affection received and given, life itself, in order to follow Jesus?
- “Anyone who does not carry His cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple”: Do I possess the logic of the cross, that is, the logic of love freely given?
- The means to fulfill this: does my capacity to think inform my life of faith or is it just an interior impulse that dissolves with time and slips by the events of my daily life?
- To avoid having onlookers make fun of something started: does the reward of someone who started to follow the Lord and then did not have the human resources to go on, that is, derision for inability, apply to me?
- “None of you can be My disciple unless he gives up all his possessions": am I convinced that the key to discipleship is the poverty of non-possession and the beatitude of belonging?

b) A key to the reading:

We are among those who follow Jesus, with all our baggage of the past. One among so many, our name can be lost. Yet when He turns around and His word strikes the pain of the ties that strongly bind the pieces of our life, questions roll in the most ancient valley of echoes and one single humble reply comes forth from the ruins of unfinished edifices: Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.

v. 25-26. Great crowds accompanied Him on His way and He turned and spoke to them, “If any man comes to Me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be My disciple.” The Lord is not interested in counting those who come to Him. His words are strong and are free of all illusion. Is there anyone who does not know what it means to hate? If I hate a person, I stay away from that person. This choice between the Lord and affection for parents is the first demand of discipleship. To learn from Christ, it is necessary to find once more the nucleus of every love and interest. The love of a follower of the Lord is not a possessive love, but a love of freedom. To follow someone without any guarantees such as blood relationship can give, namely, family ties and one’s own blood a place where life is born of divine wisdom.

v. 27. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. The only tie that helps us follow Jesus is the cross. This symbol of love that cannot be taken back, capable of being word even when the world silences everything by condemnation and death, is the lesson of the Rabbi born in the smallest village in Judea.

v. 28. Which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? To build a tower requires a large sum for someone who has limited resources. A good intention to build is not enough. It is necessary to sit down, calculate expenses, seek the means to bring the project to completion. Man’s life is incomplete and unsatisfied because the larger the project the larger the debt! Not to know how to calculate what is within our means to accomplish is not the wisdom of those who after having ploughed wait for the rain, but the lack of awareness of those to expect flowers and harvest from seed thrown among stones and brambles, without making the effort to loosen the soil.

v. 29-30. Otherwise if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him, saying: “Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish”. The derision of others which grates like sand on the feelings of hope of the person who wanted to reach high on his own, is the reward of one’s own arrogance clothed in good will. How many humiliations do we not carry with us, but what little fruit do we reap from these painful experiences! Putting down foundations and then not finishing the building is useless. Shattered desires sometimes are good tutors to our naïve self-affirmation… but we fail to understand them so long as we try to cover up our failures and the delusion of our waking up from the fairy-tale world of the dreams of our childhood. Yes, Jesus does tell us to become childlike, but a child will never pretend to build a “real” tower! The child will be happy with a small tower on the beach, because he/she knows well his/her capacity.

vv. 31-32. Or, again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who advanced against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to negotiate peace. No one can win a war without first sending envoys of peace. To fight for royal supremacy over every other is in itself a lost battle, because man is not called to be a ruling king, but the lord of peace. Approaching the other while still a long way off is the most beautiful sign of victory where no one wins and no one loses, but all become servants of the one true sovereignty in the world: peace and fullness of the gifts of God.

v. 33. So, in the same way, none of you can be My disciple unless he gives up all his possessions. If we examine the capital sins, we shall discover them in the manner of possessing that Jesus speaks of. A person who bases his/her life on possessions is a dissolute person who pretends to have power over all things (pride), enjoys a life of pleasure (lust), goes beyond the limits as a personal right (anger), is hungry for material goods (gluttony), steals from others (envy), keeps things for him/herself (avarice), spoils him/herself apathetically without committing to anything (sloth). The disciple, on the other hand, travels on the rails of the living virtues of the gifts of the Spirit: he/she is a person who has a sense of the things of God (wisdom) and shares it without keeping it to him/herself, and delves deep into the essential meaning of all that is life (knowledge), who listens to the voice of the Spirit (counsel), and reflects on every decision (counsel), who allows him/herself to be protected by the limitations of his/her being (fortitude) and does not give in to the allurement of sin, who knows the secrets of history (knowledge) to build horizons of goodness, who does not take unto him/herself the right of making sense, but who welcomes the source of divine intervention (piety), which springs from the abyss of silence, and is thankful for the marvels of grace of his Creator (fear of God) without being afraid of his/her smallness. Thus a disciple is another Jesus.

c) Reflection:

Our hearts are nets made of chain. We have ties of tenderness and gratitude, ties of love and dependence, endless ties with everything that touches our feelings. Jesus speaks of ties of consanguinity: father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and of ties with life itself, which in the Semitic mentality is symbolized by blood. But the heart must be free of these ties in order to go to Him and create a new tie that gives life because it gives the person freedom to be his/her authentic self. Every disciple has but one task: to learn and not to depend. Blood ties create dependence: how often does affective blackmail stop people from building the tower of their existence? How often do the words “If you love me, do this!” or “If you love me, do not do this…?” Life itself can imprison you when it ties you to what does not suit you physically or mentally, thus influencing your complicated story, or when it ties you to what you choose haphazardly by a will made weak by a thousand grids of events and blackmail. The cross does not tie. It urges that all that you have may be shed, blood and water, even to the last drop. Your whole life as a gift that does not expect any reward. To belong rather than to possess is the secret of the gratuitous love of the Master and of the disciple. Anyone who follows Jesus is not just any disciple who learns a doctrine, but is one who becomes a beloved disciple, capable of narrating the wonders of God when the fire of the Spirit turns him/her into a flame on the candlestick of the world.

3. ORATIO

Psalm 22

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want;
He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil;
for Thou art with me;
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

4. CONTEMPLATIO

Lord, as You turn around and look at me, Your words go through my mind and challenge me with everything that is my life. It is as though a pair of scissors unhesitatingly but sweetly cut the umbilical cords that nourish me to keep me going. This certain and necessary action restores my full breath and my freedom. Scripture says in its first pages of the human race: Man will leave his father and mother and will go towards a new fullness, all his, towards the unity of one person, capable of bearing fruit and new life. But we have not grasped the key word of this magnificent project, a word that inconveniences because it is like the waves of the sea where you cannot let yourself go with no security, the word: movement. Life does not stop. A love and a life received from a father and a mother. Yes, a full love, but one that does not limit horizons. Man will leave… and will go… A man and a woman, two in one, children who will be the face of their meeting of love, but who tomorrow will leave to go in their turn… if you stop to grasp life, life dies in your grasp, and with life your unfulfilled dream also dies, the dream of a full love that is never exhausted. Lord, grant us to understand that to love is to follow, to listen, to go, to stop, to lose oneself in order to find oneself in a movement of freedom that fulfills every desire for eternal possession. Let me not, for the sake of possessing a part of life, lose the joy of belonging to life, to that divine life that comes and goes in me for others and from others to me to make of the days that go by waves of freedom and of gift from God within the limitations of each life. Grant that I may always be the beloved disciple of Your dying life, capable of welcoming in inheritance the son-ship and guardianship, in Your Spirit, of every authentic motherhood.

www.ocarm.org