I told her I didn't know how I was going to explain to their parents why Jesus said they should hate their children. I asked her to let me know when she figured it out!
Believe it or not, two brothers told a funny story on a podcast yesterday that helped me figure it out. A young girl on the East Coast loved lobster; it was her favorite food. One day, coming home with her parents from the fish market she decided to name the two big live lobsters they'd bought for that night's dinner; she called one Todd and the other Maude.
But when it came time to put the lobsters in the pot, she just couldn't do it. The brother telling the story concluded it's hard to kill something after you've given it a name.
The other brother quipped "maybe that's why parents give names to their children!”
What's that got to do with the words of Jesus? Well, parents, ask yourselves: how many times have you muttered, “I could kill that kid”?
The child was not in mortal danger--you were exaggerating for effect. And that's partly what Jesus was doing when he told us to hate our loved ones.
Yesterday afternoon Steve Whan of our parish took a step closer to becoming a permanent deacon at a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Miller. I wondered how the Archbishop would handle this difficult text, preaching in front of the candidates and their wives--all of whom are wondering what ordained ministry in the Church means for married life.
Not surprisingly, he handled it very well, and almost my entire homily this morning is borrowed--with his permission, of course, from the Archbishop!
He made short work of the notion that Jesus is telling deacons or anyone else to turn aside from their family obligations. Although our Lord's words are striking, it's really not a new message: everyone knows Jesus told us to love God with all our mind and heart.
The Archbishop pointed out that St. Benedict summarized this teaching in his famous Rule: "Prefer nothing to the love of Christ."
"There you have it," he said. "Jesus must be 'number one' in our lives."
"Love for God does not exclude other loves, but it does prioritize them, putting them in the proper order."
The words about 'hating' loved ones are just the first of three challenging conditions for discipleship Jesus gives us in today's Gospel.
The second condition for true discipleship is "carry your cross and follow me."
Jesus has given us everything--all his love, proved by his death for us on the Cross. But this love demands everything in return.
Of course we can't give to Jesus without receiving even more back. We're frightened about carrying the Cross, yet Jesus doesn't hand it to us and walk away. He makes the Cross life-giving,
Pope Benedict put this beautifully: what Jesus is saying is "With your suffering, take part in the work of salvation which is realized through my suffering, by means of my Cross. As you gradually embrace your own crosses, uniting yourself spiritually to my cross, the salvific meaning of suffering will be revealed to you." [Fatima, May 13, 2010]
And Archbishop Miller made a great point last night. Jesus is not really talking here about our voluntary penance but about accepting what we would rather avoid: our daily obligations, demands and trials,
By accepting the pain--physical, emotional, whatever--that seems so useless, so senseless and frustrating, we make it life-giving, a way of living with Christ.
The third condition for discipleship that Jesus lays down for serious disciples may be the hardest of all to understand. He tells us to give up all our possessions. What could that possibly mean? We have responsibilities to our families and to society. "Is every Christian called to the poverty of St. Francis or St. Clare," Archbishop Miller asked?
Even the Archbishop admitted that this command, especially since Jesus says all our possessions, is really difficult to understand and live.
At the very least, he said, this teaching means that we must stand before the Lord and learn from him how we should use our resources. We cannot treat our finances as a world apart from our life of faith.
Nor, I believe, can we fail to include our time in what Jesus calls our possessions. They say 'time is money,' but for many of us time's more precious than gold. But our time, too, must be given to the Lord when he asks.
All three of Christ's conditions for his disciples come down to a simple question that Archbishop Miller asked yesterday: "Where does love for Jesus rank in my daily existence, and not just when I'm saying my prayers? When the chips are down, when I have to choose between rival loves, what has first claim on me?"
And that's the question every intentional disciple must answer, every day.
Great homily, and not just because you mentioned me. You’ve really upped your homily game recently. There were people chuckling and almost laughing out loud all around me. Very engaging today. Steve
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