Owe
nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another
has fulfilled the law. Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the
fulfillment of the law.
(Romans 13:8,10)
Whoever
does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27
Piety
By Peter Scholtes
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the
Lord,
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.
Refrain
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.
Refrain
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
Study
If you are carrying your own cross, then your
hands don’t have room to carry much else.
Jesus knows this and will show us his own example as he marches up the
hill with his cross. All Jesus wants us
to carry is love in our hearts, love on our minds, and love in the work of our
hands. Because if we have love, we
fulfill our commitments to others. Paid
in full.
As the notes in the New American Bible
underscore, total dedication is necessary for the disciple of Jesus. “No
attachment to family or possessions can stand in the way of the total
commitment demanded of the disciple. Also, acceptance of the call to be a
disciple demands readiness to accept persecution and suffering and a realistic
assessment of the hardships and costs.”[i]
Paul reiterates the importance of love over
all going beyond the famous passages in Corinthians. When only love directs our decisions, the
interest of family relationships, sanctity of life, and security of property, remain
safe. (Not that property matters if we
give it all up to be disciples.)
Debt creates
pressure and no one likes pressure. But there is one debt that you will always
owe and never be able to pay off fully: The debt of love to others. You’ll
never reach the place where you can say, “Now I love others as much as I ought
to.” And so, no matter how long you’ve been a Christian and how much you have
grown as a Christian, you still have room to grow in love.[ii]
Action
The great countdowns have begun in
earnest. The headlines in today’s paper
warn of what not to buy before Black Friday.
The images in social media point out that there are only seven Mondays
until Christmas. Retail outlets fight
over who can woo customers by opening on Thanksgiving Day versus who can woo
customers by closing on Thanksgiving Day.
One national chain also has its own interest at heart by encouraging
people to go outside and engage in sports activities rather than shopping on
Black Friday. Of course, we will have to
go there in advance to but whatever equipment is needed for such physical
activity.
Yet all of this misses the point of the
seasons we celebrate from Thanksgiving forward.
The point is love, not money.
Gratitude. Sharing and spending
time together with family and friends, with group members and with our parish.
Are you paying off your real debts?
No comments:
Post a Comment