ARE YOU READY TO DIE FOR ME? (Bulletin Article for 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time) A huge crowd was following Christ. They loved so many things about him. They loved his miraculous powers. When he spoke fearlessly against the Pharisees, they loved it.When he lashed out at the self-centered rich people, they cheered him on. Whenhe criticized the legalistic nit-pricking scribes, they thought he was great. When he pointed his fingers at evils out there, they said, “Right On.” But now Jesus stops, turns around and faces the crowds: “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 cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Wow!!! Are you kidding me? Does he really mean this? Sure, he does mean every bit of it. Does Christ demand that we hate some people? Does he want to scare us with crosses and sufferings? No!!! Christ demands total commitment, not hatred. The one thing God plans for us, for which he made us, is marriage with him. It is for better for worse. Marriage is one man to onewoman; every other relationship flows from it. Christ is saying to the crowds and to all who feel drawn to him: I will die for love of you; will you die forlove of me? This is the onlycondition for being Christ’s disciple. Total commitmentis what marks the disciple out from the crowd. Love ready to die for Christ is what the cross means. It changes the followers of Christ from mere fans to true disciples. The cross is the sign of the Christian faith. It is the symbol of love to the end, God’s love healing ours and bringing it to perfection. This is what salvation means, to die for God who dies for us.In some cases, it can require real physical death. This is the love God wants in all his children; and this is what Christ is nurturing in all his followers. Many saints have reflected this deep marriage commitment by their opting to die rather than sin. One of St. Dominic Savio’s resolutions before his first Holy Communion at the age of seven was: ‘Death rather than sin’. Eleven year old St. Maria Goretti chose death to allowing Alessandro, 19, to defile her. She cried out, “No! It is a sin. God does not want it!” Alessandro stabbed her seven times and left. Dying in the hospital, she forgave him and prayed for his repentance, and he later repented. St. Ignatius of Antioch begged the RomanChristians not to stop his martyrdom to enable him sacrifice himself for love. He wrote: “The only thing Iask of you is to allow me to offer the libation of my blood to God. I am the wheat of the Lord; may I be ground by the teeth of the beasts to become the immaculate bread of Christ.” Christ does not demand suffering, but love. We accept and take on sufferings, in whatever form they may be, for the sake of God’s love. Many would want to follow Christ as a crowd, without deep commitments, without sacrifices. Disciples differ from the crowd because of their deep commitment to Christ. He wants a deep personal relationship, a marriage bond. Nothing less! This love must be nurtured to grow. If husband and wife take each other for granted and cease talking to each other constantly, they sooner or later fall out love. Similarly,we can fall out of love withChrist by taking him for granted, growing careless about communing and communicating with him, never thinking of him except on Sundays. We must not follow him as a crowd but draw closer to him and allow him heal our love with his. His love grows ours and makes us ready to die for God and one another. Lord, heal and perfect my love for you and for my brothers and sisters that I may daily offer my life as a living sacrifice to you, my one Spouse, who willingly gave up your own life for me.
Posted on: Fri, 06 Sep 2013 05:32:03 +0000
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