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| “Care of the Sick”(detail) by Domenico Di Bartolo, 1441-42 |
Reading 1: Philippians 2:12-18
So then, my beloved, obedient
as you have always been,
not only when I am present
but all the more now when I am absent,
work out your salvation with
fear and trembling.
For God is the one who, for
his good purpose,
works in you both to desire
and to work.
Do everything without
grumbling or questioning,
that you may be blameless and
innocent,
children of God without
blemish
in the midst of a crooked and
perverse generation,
among whom you shine like
lights in the world,
as you hold on to the word of
life,
so that my boast for the day
of Christ may be
that I did not run in vain or
labor in vain.
But, even if I am poured out
as a libation
upon the sacrificial service
of your faith,
I rejoice and share my joy
with all of you.
In the same way you also
should rejoice and share your joy with me.
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Commentary on Phil 2:12-18
Having just exhorted the community
to follow Christ’s example of humility, he now continues with his fourth counsel
– obedience and selflessness. He begins his exhortation in classic biblical
terms “with fear and trembling” not out fear like the pagans of some capricious
deity but out of humility before the God upon whom they depend for salvation
(see Exodus 15:16, Isaiah 19:16, and Psalm 2:11). He tells
them to allow God’s grace to work through them, even when it is difficult.
It is clear that there is
anticipated resistance from the secular community whom they are told they must
invite without joining – they are to “shine like lights in the world, as you
hold on to the word of life.” Obedience to the Gospel and selfless service
to its call are summed up in St. Paul’s invitation to join him in sacrificial
service.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 27:1, 4,
13-14
R. (1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my
salvation;
whom do I fear?
The LORD is my life's refuge;
of whom am I afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
One thing I ask of the LORD;
this I seek:
To dwell in the LORD'S house
all the days of my life,
To gaze on the LORD'S beauty,
to visit his temple.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
But I believe I shall enjoy
the LORD'S goodness
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD, take
courage;
be stouthearted, wait for the
LORD!
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
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Commentary on Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14
Psalm 27 is an individual lament. Here, the singer expresses
faith in God, who is the refuge of the faithful longing to find ultimate safety
and the bounty of God’s heavenly kingdom. This passage from the psalm captures
the two major themes: hope in God’s mercy, and complete trust in his goodness.
In these strophes, David longs for the Lord’s protection and the gift of life
which flows from God's salvation.
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Gospel: Luke 14:25-33
Great crowds were traveling
with him (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,
everyone of you who does not
renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
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Commentary on Lk 14:25-33
The Lord, perhaps in an action
intended to identify those who had the zeal to be true disciples, tells the
crowd of the necessity of total dedication to the call to discipleship. They
had seen his recent miracles of healing and were, no doubt, hoping to learn
wisdom from him.
He tells them that they must place
their love of God first, in front of family and even their own lives. He tells
them, through two examples – the construction of the tower and the evaluation
of the battle – that they must measure the sacrifice needed to be his follower.
He punctuates his statement by telling them they must “renounce” all
their possessions to follow him.
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Reflection:
Since we are
still basking in the glow or suffering in the gloom of yesterday’s elections it
is appropriate that the Gospel message we hear speaks to us about the choices
we make in our lives. Luke says Jesus is traveling with a large crowd. The Lord turns to address them, knowing that
many are just hangers-on or curiosity seekers.
Then he gives them both barrels, as the old saying goes. Skipping to the end of his parables the Lord
says; “In the same way, every one of
you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”
We can imagine
the effect this statement had on that large group. Our guess would be that after that speech,
most of that crowd would just fade away.
We know that during Jesus’ ministry his popularity rose and fell. We say fell because at the end, in the
garden, even his most faithful followers fled in the face of the impending
passion. Who indeed could drink that
cup? Who can worthily carry that banner
forward? It is our great solace that he
hears us as we repeat the centurion's words during the Mass; “Lord, I am not
worthy that you should enter under my roof,
but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” (Matthew 8:8b; Luke 7:6b)
We see things are
getting a bit morbid as we think about the Lord’s life and lessons. It is not intended to be so. We are called to follow the Lord. We are given several very difficult axioms of
discipleship to follow;
-Love God and love one another.
-Turn away from sin (defined as a conscious failure to love)
-Empty ourselves of pride and humbly follow Jesus.
-Dedicate ourselves totally to living by his example (what we hear
today)
-All we do must, like Jesus’ actions, must be for the greater
glory of the Father (not ours)
We said these are
the axioms of discipleship. They sit on top of our profession of faith and are
in parallel to the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) and the doctrines of faith
promulgated by the teaching magisterium of the Church. As best we can tell, those now living
disciples who come closest to this ideal are the priests, bishops, vowed religious,
and those who consecrate themselves to God’s service.
We, who live in a
married state, would find it difficult to follow this most recent injunction
literally. But that does not mean we
should think that it does not apply to us.
The person who accepts a vocation to marriage lives in sacramental
grace. The Lord himself blesses this
union and the Church sees it as a symbol of the love Jesus, the bridegroom, has
for his bride, the Church. It is not reasonable
or responsible for a married couple to neglect their duties to the welfare of
the family. How those of us living the
sacramental vocation of marriage should respond to Jesus’ invitation to give up
everything to follow him is the question at the heart of our individual search
for the will of God in our lives.
How do we
reconcile our need to provide for the needs of our family whom we love and at
the same time selflessly follow Jesus?
We are not going to get to that answer here, and even once we find it
the answer we find moves on. We ask
ourselves: what can I do in my daily life to follow the example of Jesus? We struggle with our humanness that wants us
to do what is self-serving and suppress our compassion and generosity for the
sake of visible success in secular society.
It is our
constant struggle with the opposing forces of good and evil in our lives that
makes the example the Lord set for us so difficult. Our prayer for today is: Lord, help me to
make right choices today. Let us serve
you in all we do. May our successes bring
you glory and our failures serve to instruct us in a greater love of your Son’s
passion.
Pax
[1]
The picture used today is “Care of the Sick”(detail) by Domenico Di Bartolo,
1441-42.
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
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