The readings for mass today summarizes the two great commandments. Saint Paul writes about the commandments that have to do with love of neighbor. Jesus speaks about our love for him. Jesus taught the crowd that if they want to be his disciple, they must love him even more than their own family members. A lot of times it seems like we get these two commandments reversed in our lives. Our love for Jesus should come first, and we should never allow anyone to make us feel guilty about this, even our own families. Jesus elaborates on this further when he tells us that we should weigh the cost of discipleship before committing to it.
If Christ isn’t first in our lives, then every little storm that surfaces in our relationships with our family and friends, will toss us about like a ship without an anchor. The whole ship could sink without solid grounding. Jesus is the anchor of our life. He holds everything together, otherwise we will live at the whim of everyone else’s emotions and self will.
Sometimes we have to choose Jesus over other things, and that might make our family and friends upset with us. There are a lot of sporting events that take place on Sunday mornings and many parents feel pressured to allow their children to take part in these sporting events, rather than take their children to mass or attend Sunday religious education classes. Mass is more important than sports though. If there are no other masses available to take the children to, then making mass the priority for the family is the right thing to do, even if the children or other interested adults get upset about it.
Young adults often go to mass regularly until they meet someone that does not share their faith and is uncomfortable attending Catholic mass with them. Young people should not quit going to mass just because their girlfriend or boyfriend doesn’t like going though. If the relationship is meant to work, they will want to go with you, or accept that you need to go alone. It’s a pretty clear indication that something is wrong with the relationship, if a potential spouse gets upset about going to mass with you or if they don’t want you to go to mass alone. Nor should they insist that you should adapt to their religion. There are many successful marriages that have managed to work out these differences and still respect one another’s religious beliefs. Mutual respect is the key, not caving into what another person wants from you. God doesn’t force anyone to love Him. We come to Him of our own free will and good relationships are like this as well. The dating process is a time of discernment and sometimes relationships come to an end because of conflicts over core values. This too, may be the cost of discipleship.
Saint Paul writes in today’s first reading that “you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Love is so difficult to really understand sometimes. Saint Paul reminds us of the commandments, “you shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet”, etc. These are selfish acts.
The definition of sin is selfishness.
The definition of genuine love is to desire the good of another.
To desire the good of another may not always be what the other person wants at the time, and that may make them angry with us, but that is ok. This is the cost of discipleship that Jesus spoke of in today’s gospel. Have you ever heard the expression “if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything?” It takes courage to face other people’s temporary emotional flare ups and stay rooted in love for Jesus.
Today, let us have the courage to be faithful to Jesus in all that we say and do.
Daily Mass Readings:
Rom 14: 7-1 / Ps 27: 1bcde, 4, 13-14 / Luke 15: 1-10
