The Passionists of Holy Cross Province

The Love that Compels

Daily Scripture, September 4, 2016

Scripture:Red Hood-Cross

Wisdom 9:13-18b
Philemon 9-10,12-17
Luke 14:25-33

 

Reflection:

The Cost of Discipleship

Quite a picture in today’s Gospel:  Jesus is travelling with great crowds; He stops and tells them that, to follow Him, you must “hate” your family and even your own life!  Strong words!  Discipleship is a great calling, but…hatred of family?  Carrying your own cross?  Challenging words to those who wanted to join His team and help spread His “Good News”…then…and now.

Jesus continues his discourse and invites his followers to consider how “costly” discipleship is.  He compares the decision to follow Him to building a tower (most likely winemaking) or going to war.  In both examples Jesus highlights that a person would be foolish to embark upon a major project without research, planning, resources, etc.

Today’s Gospel encourages us to consider our own discipleship, rooted in our Baptism “back when” in our lives.  No doubt we’ve been blessed in many ways thus far – and we’ve faced some difficult times in living out our faith in our 21st Century world.  Jesus directly challenges us to go deeper in our hearts and check on our resources and our personal resolve:  Is Jesus 1st and foremost in our lives?  Do “things”, or people, or possessions of any size or style get in the way?  Are we open to growth and change in our discipleship with Jesus?

“Hard”?  Yes!  “Impossible”?  No!  As noted in the first reading from the Book of Wisdom, God provides the grace, the Spirit, to help us.  And like Paul in his letter to Philemon, we have the support of one another in living as credible disciples of Jesus in our day and age — be we imprisoned or sick or elderly or experiencing any limitation.

Today we are invited to be grateful for the gift of our faith, cultivated in each of us by family and friends and our spiritual leaders.  Likewise, we are grateful for our 21st Century discipleship and whatever vocation we’ve received from God.  We are encouraged to continue growing as disciples, accepting the challenges and crosses that are part of our lives – helping each of us to not just be “one of the crowd,” but truly unique, faith-filled and loving disciples.  May we be blessed as we credibly share our faith and our gifts with our needy sisters and brothers world-wide.


Fr. John Schork, C.P. is a member of the Passionist community in Chicago, Illinois. 

Ash Wednesday

On March 2, the Church celebrates Ash Wednesday. 

Most of us learned early in our Catholic lives that Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, and that is a time of special sacrifice in preparation for the Easter celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection.

Dear brothers and sisters, every moment of our lives is a time for believing, hoping and loving…. These words of Pope Francis, taken from his Lenten Message of last year, 2021, and echoing the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, can still inspire our answer to the question: “What am I giving up for Lent?” 

We can draw our Lenten sacrifices out of our daily life: 

Share our faith in God’s presence by sharing in prayer with our family or with those in our parish community.
Share our hope in God’s promises by encouraging positive and respectful dialogue in our family circle and among our friends. 
Share the charity God has bestowed on us in the Passion of Jesus, with those whose sufferings are ignored or aggravated.

Let us pray for one another as we enter the season of Lent. Our Passionist “motto” can be our daily prayer during Lent, “May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts.”