The first reading from the book of Wisdom for mass today explains how our reasoning and designs are likely to fail because we have perishable bodies that weigh down the soul and burden our minds. We have illnesses, stress at work, travel away from home, family or marital problems and so many other distractions in modern life. It is hard to be still long enough for prayer and contemplation, and to have very much quality time to spend with the Lord in our daily life. Through a regular prayer life, frequenting the sacraments and acts of service out of love for others, we can seek to grow in God’s grace. However, even with our best efforts to do the right thing, God may have other plans, even plans that seem contrary to what we want or what seems to be best in our life right now.
Grace is a gift from God and is given at His will and not ours. When we live a life more pleasing to God though, He is more apt to send the Holy Spirit and extra grace into our lives. Wisdom that is transmitted through actual grace is more perfect than all of the education that we can acquire through man made means.
The readings for mass today are about wisdom, grace and peaceful resolutions. However, it is a difficult gospel today in many ways. Jesus says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” This doesn’t mean we are to hate those we love the most, or that we hate our lives. It means that we are to value Jesus Christ above everyone and everything else in life, no matter what it costs us. This is nothing new. If you remember, God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac to Him because Abraham loved Isaac so much that God wanted to test him to see if he loved God more than Isaac. Abraham did love God the most and was prepared to sacrifice the very person that he loved the most in life, for God. He chose God over his own son.
Following Christ means that we too, must be prepared to sacrifice whatever or whoever, is most important to us in our lives as well. We may never be called upon to do so, but we must be prepared to make this choice because of our relationship with the Lord, whom we have grown to love deeply through prayer and the sacraments of our church. Jesus said we must be prepared to make this sacrifice, to pay the ultimate price if necessary, to be his disciples. All of Christ’s apostles, except for Saint John, died a martyr’s death.
In the last verses of the gospel today, Jesus tells a parable about a king preparing to go to war against another king. He needs to weigh the costs of going to war, not in money but in the cost of the lives of many human beings. If one king’s army of 10,000 troops is not enough to defeat an army of 20,000 then he should send a delegation to the king with the larger army and request terms of peace. This minimizes a great loss of life. And this is so relevant concerning the current situation with Syria, where the United States is considering military action to put a stop to the use of chemical warfare.
Which decision would, in the long run minimize the loss of human life? Jesus said in today’s gospel that the king with the smaller army should know he can’t defeat an army twice their size and go to the bigger army’s king to request terms of peace. The initiative for peace was to be with the smaller army.
Pope Francis has called upon Catholics throughout the world to pray for peace this week. That a peaceful resolution between the United States and Syria can be reached without any loss of life. It is a very complicated situation for both countries and many other countries in the world as well, but every effort should be made to resolve the problem of the use of chemical warfare, through diplomacy. These weapons should never be used in war again, especially on innocent children, but hopefully this complicated situation can be resolved peaceably by the leaders of the countries involved and their armies.
