Sisters and brothers in Christ, this Sunday's Gospel can be a "hard pill" to swallow when we hear Jesus say, "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." Wait, what now? Surely the Fourth Commandment tells us to honor our father and mother, right? And we are called to love our neighbors, starting with our family, right?
The short answer is, the Great Commandment is to love the Lord our God with all your mind, heart, and soul, first and foremost. The first three commandments help us to order ourselves to the right worship of God because He must take priority in our lives. When we love God above all in our life, He helps us love others, especially our families, as He loves us - unconditionally and sacrificially - because God is love.
Reflecting on this from a different perspective, I am reminded of a homily that a priest gave at a wedding. He told the couple that when God grants them children, their children belong to God and they - as parents - are stewards of God's precious gifts to them - their children. In the same way, God makes children stewards of His greatest gift to them - their parents. Therefore, we are all stewards of each other (and of our common home), and it is all thanks to God's love and mercy for us.
Thus, we honor God when we put Him first in our life, even before our family no matter how much we love them, but especially before ourselves. The call of God to carry our cross and come after Him is a challenging call but to do otherwise would risk eternal life with our Father in heaven.
. . .
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“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?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
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