September
4, 2016
23rd
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wisdom
9:13-18; Psalm 90; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33
Today, Pope
Francis officiated the canonization of a new saint in the Universal Church - St
Teresa of Calcutta. Mother Teresa, the founder of a religious order called
Missionaries of Charity, was considered by many as a living saint because of
her dedication and love in serving the poorest of the poor around the world.
What is the measure of love for Mother Teresa? She said “For love to be real, it
must hurt.” If it does not hurt you, it is not real love. This reminds me of
what Jesus says in today’s gospel, “If you really love me, if you really want
to follow me and be my disciple, you must hate your mother, father, wife,
children, brothers, sisters and yourself.” The words of Jesus may sound harsh
at first hearing. But what does he mean by this? How can we “hate” those we are
supposed to love? Let us reflect on this in three points.
JESUS
DOES NOT TELL US TO GET ANGRY AT OURSELVES AND OUR LOVED ONES. Jesus
cannot go against God’s commandment to honor your
father and your mother. Remember that Jesus also said, love one
another; as I have loved you. The words of Jesus in today’s gospel must not be taken
literally. It
is rather a figure of speech telling us that nothing should stand in the way of
following Jesus - not even family relationships, not even concern for
ourselves, should become a hindrance from following Jesus. So Jesus is not
telling us to hate in terms of being impatient and angry with them. Jesus rather
means, we should love God more than anything else.
JESUS
INVITES US TO PRIORITIZE OUR LOVE FOR GOD. The gospel mentioned
about great crowds following Jesus. Jesus had many supporters, admirers and
fans. But the question is, how many of them can be considered as genuine
followers of Jesus? Our first reading also describes a sincere desire of a
human being to follow God. But Jesus is not interested with the quantity of his
followers. He is more concerned of its quality. One important quality of a true
disciple of Jesus is to prioritize loving God. St Augustine says that as
sinners, we fall into the trap of loving the creature and forgetting the
Creator. We fall into the trap of marginalizing our love for God. We fall into
the trap of treating created beings as gods. Sometimes we look at ourselves as
gods. Sometimes we treat pleasure, power and wealth as gods. That is why in the
gospel, Jesus makes it clear at the very beginning to his followers that
following Him entails prioritizing our love for God. Why? What effect will it
bring to us?
PRIORITIZING
OUR LOVE FOR GOD WILL PURIFY OUR WAY OF LOVING. Let
us look at the experience of Paul in the second reading. Paul encountered
Onesimus in prison. Onesimus was a runaway slave. Because he was in prison, he
must have committed an offense. Paul, who was also in prison because of
persecution, became his friend. Their friendship led Onesimus to be converted
to Christianity. But look at how love for God present in Paul changed and
purified his perspective: In his letter to Philemon, the master of Onesimus, he
writes, “Please accept Onesimus again. Please treat this criminal slave not anymore as a
slave, not anymore as a criminal but as a brother.” Love for God changed the
way how Paul looked at this man. He no longer sees him as a criminal slave, but
a brother and friend. Mother Teresa was also a witness to this. Because of her
love for Jesus, she did not treat the poor and unwanted people as strangers but
neighbors in need of love. Loving God will put into right perspective our way
of loving. Without love for God, our love for our loved ones can lead to
corruption. It sometimes happens that out of love for their loved ones, people
commit crimes like killing and stealing. We need to prioritize loving God because
that will purify and put into right perspective our way of loving.
