He Who Loves Father and Mother More Than Me Is Not Worthy of Me
Introduction: May the Lord Jesus continue to inspire you to be
His disciple and to serve others in His name.
God is gracious. God bestows on us gifts and blessings, not
because we deserve them, but because God loves us and wants others to
experience how loving God is through our sharing our gifts with others. We are
sent out as emissaries of God, and we must make serving others our primary
mission and focus. And the more we are signs of God’s love, the more we are
blessed, not necessarily now, but for all eternity.
Today's liturgy invites us to reflect on the blessings that
come from welcoming God into our lives with faith and generosity. In the First
Reading, the hospitable woman of Shunem warmly receives the prophet Elisha and
is rewarded by God with the gift of a son. The Responsorial Psalm joyfully
praises God's enduring love and faithfulness toward those who walk in His ways.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul reminds us that through Baptism we have died
with Christ and have been raised to a new life of grace and holiness. We are
therefore called to leave behind sin and live as people transformed by the
Risen Lord. In the Gospel, Jesus teaches that our love for Him must be greater
than every other attachment, even the closest family relationships. He calls us
to take up our cross each day and follow Him with courage and trust. Christ
also assures us that every act of kindness shown to His prophets, disciples,
and the least of His brothers and sisters will never go unrewarded. As we
celebrate this Eucharist, let us ask for hearts that joyfully welcome Christ,
faithfully follow Him, and generously serve others in His name.
First Reading: Acts 12:1-11: ‘Now I am sure that the Lord
has rescued me from the hand of Herod.’
Commentary: The
early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles show the earliest Church at
Jerusalem being led by Peter. The later chapters recount the mission of Paul to
the gentiles. This story tells of a near disaster, averted by divine
intervention. If Peter, as well as James, had been martyred at this early
stage, the Church might have been left without leaders and could hardly have
survived. It is one of the many accounts of divine intervention to free the
apostles from the prisons to which their fearless witness to Christ brought
them. Several times the whole group of apostles had been imprisoned by the
Jewish authorities for their witness and miraculously released. This full
account is paralleled by the release of Paul from prison in Thessalonika through
an earthquake; the stories of Peter and Paul are parallel in many ways. The
lesson is that the Holy Spirit was guiding the Church at every stage, and was
looking after its members as they proclaimed the gospel. The story is superbly
told, with the amusing picture of Peter, still half-asleep, being guided at
every step by the Angel, like a sleepy child, woken up in the middle of the
night.
Responsorial Psalm 34:2-3.
4-5. 6-7. 8-9. From all my terrors the LORD set me free.
The psalm
response focuses on God being praised by the faithful “Chosen People.” As those
blessed by God reflect on God’s graciousness, they can do nothing other than to
sing of God’s Goodness. God is faithful in keeping the divine promises and
extending favor to those who respond to the LORD. The fitting response is to
lift up a hymn of gratefulness.
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18: ‘There is laid up
for me the crown of righteousness.’
Commentary: Writing
to his follower Timothy, Paul sums up and defends his mission, confident in the
divine help he has received throughout his trials as an apostle. We do not know
what this ‘rescue from the lion’s mouth’ was, but he was shipwrecked several
times on his missionary journeys, and also imprisoned, beaten and flogged by
both Jews and Roman authorities. He persevered in his apostolate, but he
yearned to be fully united with his Lord and ours. He was very conscious that
he and all Christians are baptised into Christ’s death, rise with Christ in his
resurrection, and so live with Christ’s life: ‘Life to me, of course, is
Christ, and death would be a positive gain’ (Philippians 2.21). He was held
back by the positive need for his energetic guidance by the communities he had
founded all over the Eastern Mediterranean. The sporting images of ‘the good
fight’ and the ‘race’ are typical of Paul. The games were as important as
football matches today. He uses also the image of a libation: in Roman society
the first few drops were poured out from a cup of wine, as a symbol of offering
to the gods. Paul now feels that he is approaching the end of his journey.
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-19: ‘You are Peter, and I will give
you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.’
Commentary: This
gospel reading is a turning-point in the Gospel. Three times the disciples have
been chided for their failure to understand who Jesus is, and now, with an
almost perceptible flash of inspiration, Peter replies to the question with a
full confession, not merely as in Mark that Jesus is the Messiah, but that he
is son of the living God. Jesus replies by giving him a new name and explaining
its meaning. The Aramaic name, Kephas, which Paul still uses (in Galatians
1-2), means ‘Rock’, which enables Jesus to play on the word for the
foundation-stone of ‘his assembly’. Is Jesus putting ‘his assembly’, his
ekklesia, in parallel with the assembly of God which was Israel as the People
of God in the Old Testament, and saying that his assembly is the new People of
God?
To Peter Jesus also gives the power to bind and loose, by
the conjunction of opposites implying to the Semitic mind that he is giving all
power. So much is widely recognised in all catholic teaching. But it is
important to recognise that the same promise is made to the community itself in
Matthew 18.18, the community discourse, giving it the same authority to bind
and loose. To Peter, then, is given the power in the person of the Church.
What is the origin of these promises, which occur only in
Matthew’s account of the scene, not in those of Mark and Luke? The same sort of
promise is made at the Last Supper in Luke 22.32 and emphatically at the Lake
of Galilee in John 21.15-17. Its authenticity in Matthew is increased by the
density of Aramaic language from ‘Bar Jona’ in verse 17 onwards, by the punning
on the name, and by the Semitic parallelism. It must originate in Aramaic
circles.
Reflection: Who or what takes first place in your life - in
your daily thoughts, cares, and concerns? God has put us first in his thought,
care, and concern for our well-being and future. God loved us first and our
love for him is a response to his exceeding kindness and mercy towards us. Even
while we were hopelessly adrift through our own sinful pride, rebellion and
unbelief, he choose to give us his own beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who
laid down his life for our sake - to set us free from slavery to sin, Satan,
and death.
Proof of God's unfailing love
for us: There is no greater proof of God's love for us than the
free-will offering of his Son who shed his blood for us on the cross. His death
broke the curse of guilt and condemnation, and won for us pardon and adoption
as beloved sons and daughters of God our Father. Through the victory of his
cross and resurrection, the Lord Jesus offers us abundant new life through the
gift and power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us.
The love of God comes first: The
Holy Spirit reveals to us the love of the eternal Father and the eternal Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who come to make their home with us and to unite us in a
bond of peace and friendship. That is why the Lord Jesus commanded his
disciples to give him their undivided loyalty and love above all else. We owe
him a debt of gratitude for what he has done for us. The Lord Jesus gives us
the assurance and promise that he will raise up our mortal bodies to be like
his so that we may fully share in his resurrection for all eternity.
God has no equal - that is why we owe the eternal Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit our undivided loyalty, trust, and obedience. Jesus
challenges his disciples to examine who they love first and foremost. A true
disciple loves God above all else and is willing to forsake all for the Lord
Jesus who calls us to follow him. Jesus insists that his disciples give him the
loyalty which is due to God, a loyalty which is higher than spouse or kin. It
is possible that family and friends can become our enemies, if the thought of
them keeps us from doing what we know God wants us to do.
God's compelling love knows
no rival: The love of God compels us to choose who or what will be
first in our lives. To place any relationship or anything else above God is a
form of idolatry. We can allow many different things to take control of our
lives and possess us - such as greed and lust for power, possessions, and
wealth. But only God's love can set us free to love as he loves - with mercy,
kindness, goodness, patience, perseverance, and self-control (Galatians
5:22-23). The first and great commandment is to love the Lord our God with all
of our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:37). If we pursue the love
of God and put his kingdom first in our lives, then he will give us everything
we need to sustain us now and in the future as well. Who is the Lord and Master
of you life?
True love overflows in
kindness and mercy towards others: True love for God compels us to
express charity (merciful deeds of kindness and goodness) towards our neighbors
who are also loved by God because he created each of them in his image and
likeness. Mother Theresa of Calcutta once told a marvelous story about a
destitute family who had nothing to eat for days. When news of their
impoverished condition came to the Missionary Sisters of Charity, Mother
Theresa personally went to their home and brought them some food supplies. The
mother of the family immediately divided the food in half and carried it off.
When she returned, Mother Theresa asked her, "Where did you go?" She
gave the simple answer, "To my neighbors, they are hungry also!"
Mother Theresa said, "I was not surprised that she gave - poor people are
really very generous. I was surprised that she knew they were hungry. As a
rule, when we are suffering, we are so focused on ourselves, we have no time
for others."
Jesus declared that any kindness shown and any help given to
the people of Christ will not lose its reward (Matthew 10:42). Jesus never
refused to give to anyone in need who asked for his help. As his disciples we
are called to be kind and generous as he is. Jesus sets before us the one goal
in life that is worth any sacrifice and that goal is union with God - uniting
our heart, mind, and will with his heart and will for our lives. The reward of
a life given over to God and obeying his voice is God himself - the source of
true peace and joy that lasts forever. Does the love of Jesus Christ compel you
to put God first in all you do (2 Corinthians 5:14)?
Lord, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has
conceived the things you have prepared for those who love you. Set us ablaze
with the fire of the Holy Spirit, that we may love you in and above all things
and so receive the rewards you have promised us through Christ our Lord. (from
A Christian's Prayer Book)
Daily Quote from the Early
Church Fathers: A well-ordered love, by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD)
"See how great is the impairment to those who have an
exaggerated love for their own life. And how great is the blessing to those who
are ready to give up their lives for a well-ordered love! So he bids his
disciples to be willing to give up parents, children, natural relationships, kinships,
the world and even their own lives. How onerous are these injunctions! But then
he immediately sets forth the greater blessings of rightly ordered love. Thus
these instructions, Jesus says, are so far from harming that they in fact are
of greatest benefit. It is their opposites that injure. He then counsels them,
as he so often does, in accord with the very desires that they already possess.
Why should you be willing to give up your life? Only because you love it
inordinately. So for the very reason of loving it ordinately, you will scorn
loving it inordinately, and so it will be to your advantage to the highest
degree. You will then in the truest sense love your life. Jesus does not reason
in this way only in the case of the love of parents or children. He teaches the
same with regard to your very life, which is nearest to you of all."
(excerpt from THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 35.2)
who am i in christ? “He
who brings himself to nought for Me discovers who he is.” —Matthew 10:39
We can’t know our identity until we know how God identifies
us. He is our Creator, and He knows our identity. Our identity came at our
Baptism when we were baptized into Christ Jesus and became a child of God. By
living our Baptism, we discover who we are (see Mt 10:39; cf Catechism of the
Catholic Church, 1270).
“Are you not aware” (Rm 6:3) of who you are? We don’t get to
choose who we are. Rather, God created us as we are. In Baptism we are created
anew, begotten from above (Jn 3:5, 7) as God’s sons and daughters.
Jesus questions Saul of Tarsus, “Why do you persecute Me?”
(Acts 9:4) Jesus also says, “Whatever you do to the least of My brethren, you
do it to Me” (see Mt 25:40). Thus He identifies Himself as one with us and
accordingly we identify ourselves in relation to Jesus.
In the modern, secular culture, there is much confusion and
rebellion against our God-given identity. “Are you not aware” of who you are in
Christ Jesus? Bring yourself “to nought
for” Jesus and discover who you are (Mt 10:39; see also Jn 3:30).
Prayer: Lord,
shine Your light of truth in my heart and mind. May I see myself as You see me.
May I see others as You see them. “You must consider yourselves dead to sin but
alive for God in Christ Jesus.” —Rm 6:11. Praise You, Jesus, Head of the
Church. Primacy is Yours in everything (see Col 1:18). Alleluia to You forever!
The personal action for
today: What is my number one
priority? Do I seek to put God first so that I can serve my family, the people
at my work, and the community around me even more generously? Do I express my
gratitude to God for the divine graciousness bestowed upon me? What can I do to
make others more aware of God’s graciousness?
Saint Irenaeus: The Church is fortunate that Saint Irenaeus was
involved in many of its controversies in the second century. He was a student,
well trained no doubt, with great patience in investigating, tremendously
protective of apostolic teaching, but prompted more by a desire to win over his
opponents than to prove them in error.
As bishop of Lyons he was especially concerned with the
Gnostics, who took their name from the Greek word for “knowledge.” Claiming
access to secret knowledge imparted by Jesus to only a few disciples, their
teaching was attracting and confusing many Christians. After thoroughly
investigating the various Gnostic sects and their “secret,” Saint Irenaeus
showed to what logical conclusions their tenets led. These he contrasted with
the teaching of the apostles and the text of Holy Scripture, giving us, in five
books, a system of theology of great importance to subsequent times. Moreover,
his work, widely used and translated into Latin and Armenian, gradually ended
the influence of the Gnostics.
The circumstances and details about his death, like those of
his birth and early life in Asia Minor, are not at all clear. However in 2022,
Pope Francis named Saint Irenaeus a Doctor of the Church.
A deep and genuine concern for other people will remind us
that the discovery of truth is not to be a victory for some and a defeat for
others. Unless all can claim a share in that victory, truth itself will
continue to be rejected by the losers, because it will be regarded as
inseparable from the yoke of defeat. And so, confrontation, controversy and the
like might yield to a genuine united search for God’s truth and how it can best
be served.