By Colleen O’Sullivan
One
thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: To
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the
loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple. (Psalm 27:4)
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… In the
same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be
my disciple.” (Luke 14:25-27, 33)
Piety
Nothing is more practical than finding
God, than falling in Love in a quite absolute, final way. With what are you are in love? What seizes your imagination will affect
everything. It will decide what will get
you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend
your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what
amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall
in Love, stay in love, and it will decide everything. (Fall
in Love, attributed to Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., 1907-1991)
Study
Jesus certainly doesn’t mince words in today’s Gospel reading. Hate your family, hate even your own
life. Carry your personal cross or don’t
bother to tag along after me. Renounce
your possessions. I tried, without much
success, to imagine bringing a friend to Christ using these phrases!
But Jesus is being dramatic to make a point. What he really wants isn’t for us to hate
anyone or anything, but for us to love him, to love God, more than anything
else. He wants to be first in our
hearts, to come before our most cherished family members, our most precious
possessions, even our very selves.
Most of us know what it’s like to fall in love, to have eyes and
thoughts only for the object of our affections, to have that person be our
whole world. That’s what Jesus asks of
us, that we, like the psalmist, wish for nothing more than to spend every
moment of our lives with him, in loving adoration.
Action
Take a few minutes today to consider the words of
the prayer attributed to Fr. Arrupe.
What really is it that gets you out of bed in the morning?
No comments:
Post a Comment