This weeks gospel at Mass proclaimed Jesus telling his disciples, "If you come to me, without being ready to give up your love for your father, and your mother, your spouse, and your children, your brothers and sisters, indeed yourself, you cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not follow me carrying his cross cannot be my disciple." (Lk 14: 25-33) Jesus wants me to carry my cross; to hate those things, people, or objects that keep me from being 100% his. God wants all of us, not just a piece of us. Therefore, we must realize that being Christian is an "all or nothing" proposition. It's also about today...not tomorrow, not until I am ready, it is about plunging into a journey with only faith in God as my foundation.
Catholic imagination is rich in the idea of the Christian cross. I think of those deeply moving and mystical icons and sculptures that reminds us of the paradox of the theology of the Christian cross. Those ancient works of art speak more powerfully than the best psychological thesis about the human experience, our spiritual journey, and how God calls us to be wholly for him, in spite of our weaknesses. The Bible tells me that my weaknesses are those opportunities that God can use to bring peace and justice to our world. It is through my weakness that I can help God co-create a better existence for us all, not just for myself. What Jesus is telling us is to renounce any and all sinful living. "Sin" is a word that is usally only heard anymore in religious discussions. In our secular world we think of sin as weakness, we have learned to accept our weaknesses; we have rationalized them and we say to ourselves "this is who I am". Jesus says to radically remove ourselves from this way of being. He wants us to remove ourselves from sin. He wants us to realize is that life is not about "who we are" but "who we are be-coming". What a challenge this is for us today, because we have developed ways to excuse away our sins. Today's gospel challenges us to look at our surroundings and ask the Lord to help us see where we may be blind to sin in our lives. Jesus doesn't want us to have a false understanding of who we are as his followers. We are to carry our cross. This means I am to separate myself to the things or people in my life that keep me from following him entirely. This is what it means to be like Christ.
It is important to be aware of our crosses, not to make them a focus, because that too could keep us from being a disciple. It is necessary to reflect on our crosses and whether or not we are embracing them or just dragging them along in despair? Is my attitude one of "woe is me" or am I Christ-like? Do I surround myself with people who are more interested in the pleasures of the world, the power of job status, the chase of money making ventures? Do I join communities where their only focus is on making a better life for themselves at the expense of the weaker people in the world? How about the objects or "things" in my life? Am I consumed with having or diplaying more things that symbolize to others my success, my wisdom, my self-importance? Jesus says to "give up my love" for my husband, my mother, my children, if they keep me from him. These are really powerful words-his message is to confront my obsessions, my distractions, my conditions that keep me from being a whole person and to not be timid about those things or people that I have learned to accept in my life, just because I was too afraid to confront them, it was too hard for me to deal with or eliminate them. It requires me to face those people who keep me from having a healthy relationship with my Lord and be able to say, "Peace be with you.......and don't let the door hit you on the way out." Sounds like tough love to me. No one said it would be easy to be a Catholic.
