Giving up all

Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 38 (37):22-23 Forsake me not, O Lord, my God; be not far from me! Make haste and come to my help, O Lord, my strong salvation!

Collect Almighty and merciful God, by whose gift your faithful offer you right and praiseworthy service, grant, we pray, that we may hasten without stumbling to receive the things you have promised. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Philippians 2:12-18; Psalm 26; Luke 14:25-33

Large crowds were travelling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-33)

Giving up all When we read this Gospel passage (Luke 14:25-33), the final sentence stands out: “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14: 33). What can this mean? we ask. It is plain that it cannot only or even primarily mean that in order to be Christ’s disciple we must renounce all ownership of material possessions. To take but one example, we read in the Gospel that Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Lazarus was not one of the Twelve, and Martha and Mary do not appear to be among the women who ministered to Christ and the Twelve on mission, assisting them from their own resources and with general housekeeping. They lived in their own home and carried on with their normal life, but were close friends and disciples of Jesus Christ. He loved them, and we read of his visit to them once, when Martha was doing the serving and Mary the listening. But notice this, that all this happened in “their” house. They were true disciples of Christ, and Mary’s absorption in his words while Martha served showed this. But Christ did not expect them to “give up” their home to be his disciples — in the sense of renouncing ownership of it. Simon Peter and Andrew also had their home after they had left their nets in response to his call to follow him. Christ visited Simon’s home, and perhaps even stayed there making it the centre of his operations. Christ is not referring only or necessarily to the renunciation of material possessions. This may be the path of this or that or many of his disciples, while not being the vocation of others. What Christ is requiring in our passage today is something more difficult and illusive. He is asking for a total detachment of the heart. The heart must give full place to Christ, if one is to be truly his disciple. When Christ speaks of giving up all of one’s possessions, he is speaking of all that the heart can possess and prefer in place of him and his holy will.

Of course, the love of material possessions can indeed stand in the way of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. While Mary, Martha and Lazarus were not in any way expected by our Lord to sell up and get rid of all their material possessions, the case was not the same for the rich young man. Our Lord extended to him the priceless invitation to sell all, give to the poor, and then to follow him. He would be on the path to perfection if he did this. But he was not prepared to give up his material possessions, and so he went away sad. However, there are other forms of attachment which can be just as, and even more, intractable. The fact is that one can be quite prepared to give up one’s car, but altogether unwilling to forgive. In fact, the circumstances of life can more easily train a person in detachment from material possessions than in other forms of detachment. Material possessions can fail, be lost, be stolen. If these things happen we have to learn detachment, otherwise we shall be unhappy. But what is to be said of, say, forgiveness? One can brood on injury for years and years with nothing to challenge the resentment. It is very easy to go all through a long life and never truly forgive, right to the point of death. One might never give up a desire for some revenge. These are the “possessions” which, more than the car or the house, some grasp so tightly. Every time the memory of the injury arises in one’s mind — with the call to “give up” the desire for revenge, or the call to “give up” the special esteem of others — one finds oneself grasping at it even more tightly. One never seems able to give up this possession that is so close to one’s heart. One never learns to “love” one’s enemies because of what the heart is unwilling to give up. That is to say, there are many more things embraced by our Lord’s dictum at the end of our Gospel passage today than mere material possessions. And of course, our Lord does not say that it is simply material possessions he is thinking of. These are important in the whole issue, but our Lord means far more than the bare letter of his counsel.

We shall not be able to give up for Christ all that we have without the aid of God’s grace. I would very much recommend the practice of saying a brief prayer each day for the grace to become holy in life, and for the grace of a holy death. It will require that we give up all. We must give up everything for the sake of Christ if we are to be granted success in seeking such sublime and spiritual goals. Let us pray for this grace, assiduously practising the habit of a daily examination of conscience, noticing what must be given up if Christ is to be the Lord and master of our life.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection: (Philippians 2:12-18)

Our Salvation Over the last two special liturgical days, we have been thinking of the “last things.” Yesterday we thought of the faithful departed in Purgatory (All Souls Day), and the day before we thought of all the saints in heaven (All Saints Day). These two days remind us of the all-important issue of our salvation. There is nothing to be compared with it in importance, and our salvation is not simply assured. We cannot just take it for granted, although many people do. It is possible to lose our souls, which would be an utter, unredeemable, and unmitigated disaster of eternal proportions.

So then, as St Paul says (Philippians 2:12-18), "work out your salvation in fear and trembling", which is to say, taking the whole matter with the utmost seriousness. This we do, nevertheless, with the joy that comes from being in and with Christ. This is the will of God, St Paul says in another place, your sanctification. So we must, we just must, take all the steps that are necessary day by day to achieve this objective.

(E.J.Tyler)

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