Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, bishop
1st
Reading: Romans 13:8-10
Paul's summary of all
God's commandments, " love one another."
Owe no one anything,
except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the
law. The commandments, " You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not
steal; You shall not covet;" and any other commandment, are summed up in
this word, " Love your neighbour as yourself." Love does no wrong to
a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
Gospel:
Luke 14:25-33
The self-renouncement
Jesus asked of his disciples
Now large crowds were
travelling with him; and Jesus turned
and said to them " Whoever comes to me and does not hate father, and
Mother, wife, and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself,
cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not
first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete
it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who
see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ' This fellow began to build and was
not able to finish.' Or king, going out to wage war against another king, will
not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose
the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while
the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of
peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up
all your possessions.
Saint
Charles Borromeo, bishop
Carlo Borromeo (
1538-1584) from a noble family in Arona, Lake Maggiore, was archbishop of Milan
from 1564-1584. A major Catholic leader in the sixteenth century, he was
responsible for significant reforms in the Church, including the founding of
seminaries and organizing the final session of the Council of Trent ( 1562-63)
REFLECTIONS
AND MEDITATIONS ON THE READINGS
Costly discipleship
Today we hear from the
gospel Jesus' call to the crowds to hate father, mother, wife, children ,
brothers and sisters, in fact this should not be taken literally. Jesus is
using deliberately exaggerated language to get across his teaching more clearly. What Jesus meant here is that
those who want to follow him will have to love him even more than they love
those for whom they would normally have the deepest natural affection. As God's
representative, as God's son, Jesus alone is to be loved in the way that God is
to be loved, with all our heart, soul, strength and mind. Jesus seems to be
saying that if we want to be his disciples, we can't be half- hearted about it.
Our following of the Lord is not a casual affair; it needs to be carefully
considered, just as someone who decides to build a tower or to go to war needs
to think it thoroughly beforehand.
From the gospel we learn the three great requirements of discipleship. That to follow Him:
First, we must establish our priorities. Through this gospel passage we learn that a large crowd travelled with Jesus but had many motives and priorities. Like for example: they followed Jesus because they had seen Him feeding the people, and wait to be fed; they heard of his ability to heal and wait for an opportunity to approach Him and wait to be healed; for excitement. Sad to say, only few are truly committed to Him and His teaching. And so we must establish our priorities and not to allow things to stand in the way of that which we consider important.
Brett Blair in one of his anthropology research came up with the following observations: The research was all about how typical life of 70 years of man's existence is spent. Listen to these surprising numbers: Sleep (23 years or 32.9%); Work (16 years or 22.8%); Travel ( 6 Years or 8.6%); Leisure ( 4.5 years or 6.5%); Illness ( 4years or 5.7%); Dressing ( 2 years or 2.8%) Religion( 256 days yr or 0.7%).
Second, we must count the cost. Donalt William Dotterer said that in order to fully and happily live our life, we must be able to count the cost in almost every area of living. For example Marriage is one of those institutions which demand a high personal cost. It is because husband and wife agree to stay with each other for better, for worse, for richer and for poorer till death. And so also with having children, that parents should be patient and more appreciative of their children. It is because there are just too many lonely and neglected and deprived children out there with parents who have not done so.
Third, we must pay the price. Jesus said to His disciples, " You must take up your cross and follow me." What happened to the twelve Apostles? They paid the price: Andrew died on a cross; Simon was crucified; Bartholomew was flayed alive; James ( Son of Zebedee) was beheaded; The other James ( son of Alphaeus) was beaten to death; Thomas was run through with a lance; Matthias was stoned and then beheaded; Matthew was slain by the sword; Peter was crucified upside down; Thadeus was shot to death with allows; Philip was hanged. Only Jon made it through alive but he was exiled to a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. This means that Christianity is not a Sunday morning religion. It is a hungering after God to the point of death if need be. It shakes our foundations, topples our priorities, pits us against friend and family and makes us strangers in this world and people call us : "out of our minds!"
From the gospel we learn the three great requirements of discipleship. That to follow Him:
First, we must establish our priorities. Through this gospel passage we learn that a large crowd travelled with Jesus but had many motives and priorities. Like for example: they followed Jesus because they had seen Him feeding the people, and wait to be fed; they heard of his ability to heal and wait for an opportunity to approach Him and wait to be healed; for excitement. Sad to say, only few are truly committed to Him and His teaching. And so we must establish our priorities and not to allow things to stand in the way of that which we consider important.
Brett Blair in one of his anthropology research came up with the following observations: The research was all about how typical life of 70 years of man's existence is spent. Listen to these surprising numbers: Sleep (23 years or 32.9%); Work (16 years or 22.8%); Travel ( 6 Years or 8.6%); Leisure ( 4.5 years or 6.5%); Illness ( 4years or 5.7%); Dressing ( 2 years or 2.8%) Religion( 256 days yr or 0.7%).
Second, we must count the cost. Donalt William Dotterer said that in order to fully and happily live our life, we must be able to count the cost in almost every area of living. For example Marriage is one of those institutions which demand a high personal cost. It is because husband and wife agree to stay with each other for better, for worse, for richer and for poorer till death. And so also with having children, that parents should be patient and more appreciative of their children. It is because there are just too many lonely and neglected and deprived children out there with parents who have not done so.
Third, we must pay the price. Jesus said to His disciples, " You must take up your cross and follow me." What happened to the twelve Apostles? They paid the price: Andrew died on a cross; Simon was crucified; Bartholomew was flayed alive; James ( Son of Zebedee) was beheaded; The other James ( son of Alphaeus) was beaten to death; Thomas was run through with a lance; Matthias was stoned and then beheaded; Matthew was slain by the sword; Peter was crucified upside down; Thadeus was shot to death with allows; Philip was hanged. Only Jon made it through alive but he was exiled to a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. This means that Christianity is not a Sunday morning religion. It is a hungering after God to the point of death if need be. It shakes our foundations, topples our priorities, pits us against friend and family and makes us strangers in this world and people call us : "out of our minds!"
Hakuna maoni:
Chapisha Maoni