Many Catholics believe that the sign of a good Christian and a holy person is how much they spread love, peace and joy to those around them. A good Catholic does not have any negative feelings toward others and if they do, they work toward overcoming them. There are many saints who were like this, such as Mother Teresa and Saint Therese of the Little Flower. However, there were also saints who were not peaceful at all, like Saint Thomas Moore or Saint Joan of Arc. There are as many paths to holiness are there are individuals in the world. Sinners are actually pretty boring because there are only a handful of sins people commit (ie., the seven deadly sins), but every saint interprets the gospel differently and have lived it out in their own unique way, much like a fingerprint. Each saint’s life story is unique and quite interesting. Their life stories illustrate that positive feelings and relationships with others are not the only path to sanctity though. Love for Jesus and fidelity to the gospel are more reliable signs that we are on the right track. We are to love others as much as we love ourselves, that is true, but never more than we love Jesus, however harsh that may sound.
Both of the readings for mass today are very harsh and do not seem to fit with our picture of a loving God or a compassionate, tolerate Christ. The first reading is about the Egyptians’ jealousy that the children of Israel were growing by such large numbers. They feared a loss of their power and that they could be taken over by them if left alone, so the Egyptians imposed slavery on the children of Israel. This was a very harsh life for the slaves and the Egyptians treated them very ruthlessly.
In the gospel today, Jesus speaks harshly as well. It is almost shocking to hear him say that he did not come to bring peace to the earth, but a sword. This seems to be a contradiction and a paradox to everything else he taught us. Aren’t we supposed to love one another? Didn’t he also say that everyone will know that we are his disciples by our love for one another? These pleasant, peaceful sayings of Christ come to mind easily, but many of us tend to shrink from the more harsher teachings of Christ, such as the gospel reading for today. This reading can be of great comfort to us though, when we are in the midst of marital or family problems. We are called to stand up for the good and speak out against what is wrong, no matter who it is. This is hard when it is your own family sometimes, because it is easier to walk away from the negativity, or tone down our opposition to sin, than it is to address it head on and deal with it.
It seems very harsh for Jesus to say that we owe him our loyalty first, not our family members. But, if we do not keep our life firmly grounded in the Lord then the storms of family life will blow us around and we will end up off course. Jesus said “whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” and his Father also communicated the same sentiment when He asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac because He thought Abraham loved Isaac more than God. God and Jesus both have repeatedly warned us that we are to love them more than our families. But, do we? Here in the US many parents end up missing mass in order to take their children to soccer games and other sporting events. Children are often dropped off at Sunday religious education classes because it is good for the children, but the parents do not go to mass themselves. Many parents of young children say they do not have time to pray or go to confession either, but in the long run it really does affect their own spiritual life and the rest of the family too.
The rest of the gospel today seems to convey the fact that it is not easy to speak up for what is right and what is wrong to our family sometimes, and we may give in or keep quiet about things that others do that is wrong in order to keep the peace. This may be why Jesus said that “Those who find their life will lose it”. Temporary peace at the cost of righteousness can endanger a person’s soul. He said “those who lose their life for my sake will find it”. It may take facing other people’s anger when we speak up to adults for what is right, or correct our children even if they do not like us very much afterward, in order to follow the Lord’s example and live out his command.
The gospel ends when Jesus tells us that “Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me.” And that whoever welcomes a prophet or a righteous person, will receive the reward of a prophet or righteous person. This may be because Christ’s disciples need the support of other disciples. Sometimes it is hard to speak up for Christian values in our modern society, when it seems that so many others disagree with our views. This is why the Lord wants us to take care of one another and support one another in living out Christ’s commands. No one should have to handle this alone and just talking to other Catholics about our beliefs can strengthen us to explain and defend them to others in the community, but more importantly, within our own families as well.
