Word to the Wise
Sunday, September 7, 2025 - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - C
[Wis 9:13-18b; Phlm 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33]"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?.....In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple." [Luke]
"Hatred" and "renunciation" and "cross" are all very tough words! Jesus points to the important people and possessions in our life and tells us to renounce them if we want to be his disciples! On the surface, this might seem contradictory to love of neighbor (and our family is usually our closest neighbor). He speaks of a daily "cross" that we must bear. This all seems very negative on the surface but it is really a matter of wisdom!
What kind of "priority" does our religious faith have? Is it more important than the people we love the most - family and friends? Is it more important than any possession or project that we have or are striving to accomplish? Can we give up "power" that we have to become "powerless" in the eyes of the world? (It's a big challenge to those in power, whether civil or religious).
We celebrate the lives of the saints and we ask their intercession on our behalf, but by putting them on a pedestal, do we then settle for a comfortable, non-demanding, brand of Christianity? Is our faith a commodity item? We celebrate our identity as American citizens at every big public event by singing the national anthem. Is our patriotism as important or more important than our faith in Jesus?
It really is a matter of priorities. And Jesus tells us that discipleship means setting priorities that put him first and make him the light in which we examine everything else. AMEN