Daily Reflection on the Gospel of Sunday September 4, 2022

Catoli News



Today, Jesus clearly tells us which is the place all others must take in our hierarchy of love while also explaining how to follow his person portrays our Christian life, a path going through different stages, where we must join Jesus with our Cross: «Whoever does not follow me carrying his own cross cannot be my disciple» (Lk 14:27).

When Jesus tells his disciples: «If you come to me, without being ready to give up your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be my disciple» (Lk 14:26), is He entering into a conflict with the Law of God that orders us to honor our parents and to love our fellow men? Certainly not. Jesus Christ already said He had not come to abolish the Law but to completely fulfill it; accordingly, He is the one to render the correct interpretation. When He demands an unconditional love, distinctive of God, He is pleading that He is God, whom we have to love above everything else and for whose love everything else has to be subordinated. By entrusting God with our lives, we shall also be able to love all the others with a sincere and just love. St. Augustine says: «See, now, how you are dragging your yearning for God's truth and perceiving his own volition in the Holy Scriptures».

Christian life is a non-stop journey with Jesus. Now-a-days, theoretically, many claim to be Christians, but, in fact, they are not sharing their journey with Jesus: they stay put at the starting point and do not even begin their trip, or give it up as soon as they can, or just take a different trip with other fellow travelers. The luggage to carry to make the journey of our life along with Jesus is the Cross, each one with his own; but, all along, with our share of suffering for those following Christ, there is also included the consolation which God soothes his beholders with, in all their trials. God is our hope and the source of life is in him.