A Message From Our Pastor................

The First Reading this Sunday is part of Solomon's prayer to God for true wisdom. God, the Creator of heaven and earth, possesses perfect wisdom and knowledge, both of creation at large, but more importantly of the human heart and will. In contrast to this all-pervasive wisdom of God, humanity seems largely ignorant and lacking in true knowledge. God does not desire that we remain in ignorance of the truth, particularly the truth that defines ourselves. He freely grants the gift of wisdom to those who search for it with all of their hearts, and set their minds on the true riches of his wisdom. God grants knowledge of his Kingdom, experienced here and now, through the Christian spiritual life.

Yet our spiritual lives, literally our lives 'in the Holy Spirit', are not always full of consoling thoughts and profound experiences of God's presence with us. It is true that God always remains close to us, and yet our spiritual lives are more often an experience of dryness, and sometimes even painful growth away from bad habits that enslave us. In short, it is quite often an experience of the Cross! To understand what the Cross is, and why we have to experience it in our lives (whether we want to or not), we need God's wisdom. What seems to be an instrument of death, when seen in the light of God's wisdom, is now understood as the way to life.

In the Gospel passage this Sunday, we read of the Lord travelling to Jerusalem. He knew what awaited him at the end of that journey - suffering, rejection and the Cross. Knowing that his disciples would have to face similar challenges in their own living-out of the Gospel, the Lord formed them to understand the true cost of discipleship. The Christian life would not be one centred on pleasure, greed and self-indulgence. It would mean the complete opposite - self-giving, charity and self-sacrifice. Jesus then expressed the true nature of discipleship by what seems an unreasonable and even outrageous example. He seems to command his disciples to reject their own families. This command must be understood correctly and in its proper context.

The Lord did NOT call his disciples to literally "hate" their mothers and fathers. Taken literally, such a command would contradict the Fifth Commandment to "honour thy father and thy mother". The word "hate" in this context, was used more as an expression by Jesus to make a hard-hitting point. It was an example of what true discipleship would mean - the Lord's disciples might even be required to leave what was most dear and precious to them, even their own families. I have heard of priests who have been literally disowned by their families when they announced that they wanted to study for the priesthood. Such examples relate so closely to this Gospel and give us a contemporary sense of the nature of Christian discipleship.

Our discipleship, our following of the Lord, is not for the faint-hearted. The Lord does not expect a half-hearted, minimal and superficial effort from us. He requires EVERYTHING - what is most precious; what is most valuable to us, perhaps even our own lives. Why would we offer him these precious things? Is he being unreasonable in expecting us to give our all? Well, he is not asking anything from us that he hasn't already given in abundance to his people.