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INVITATION TO A RADICAL CHRISTIAN LIFESTYLE - stephenkhoo - 09-08-2013 08:20 AM
NVITATION TO A RADICAL CHRISTIAN LIFESTYLE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: WISDOM 9:13-18; PHILEMON 9-10.12-17; LUKE 14:25-33How do you want to live your life? Are you contented with living a mediocre life, merely seeking power, status and pleasure; a life focused on self? When one’s world is centered on oneself, that world must be said to be a very small world.Christ has come to give us all a fuller life. His life is lived for others and for God. Jesus is a man for others. But this kind of life requires a radical conversion and change of mindset. It involves sacrifices and risks, taken not for oneself but for others.But the conditions for following Him seem to be rather harsh. In today’s gospel, without mincing His words, Jesus spells out the cost of discipleship. It is significant that the evangelist mentions that “great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way.” “On his way” refers to the way of the cross He was taking. Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem to meet His final destiny, which is His death and crucifixion. Christianity in the early Church was called The Way. Anyone who was a true follower of Jesus Christ was in The Way. Jesus in St John’s gospel is called the Way, the Truth and the Life. These conditions for following Him are as applicable to those who desire to follow Christ more perfectly in the priestly and religious life as in an ordinary Christian life lived in the world.What, then, is the first condition of discipleship? It is detachment from our loved ones. He told the great crowds that followed Him on His way, “If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple.” On the surface, this requirement of Jesus appears to be rather harsh. Some translations say what Jesus meant was to “love less than”. Perhaps, it can also be interpreted literally. Regardless of the interpretation, the fundamental point remains that we are called to put ourselves last. Why is it so necessary to hate our loved ones and ourselves? Firstly, Jesus demands total commitment to Him simply because He is our Lord and God. Only God can demand our total obedience and love. In the Decalogue and in the Old Testament, we are told that we must love the Lord our God with our whole heart, soul and strength. (Cf Dt 6:4-7) Idolatry is to worship self before others, to make ourselves the center of people’s lives. If Jesus wants us to be fully devoted to Him, it is not because He is jealous of our loved ones but He wants us to love Him so devotedly so that drawing from His strength, we can then love others with the love we receive from Him. Indeed, this is so that we will then be able to love selflessly and to love all others without conditions, attachments and in true freedom and service. Otherwise, there is a danger that we may make use of our love for others to bind them to us.Most of the love we receive from this world is conditional and imperfect. People love and give most of the time with a motive of receiving back. Some who claim to give to God, His Church and His people do so to make a claim on God so that He becomes a debtor to them. Just because I give so much to the Church, then the Lord must bless me with good health, success in my business, etc. Otherwise, we do desire some form of acknowledgement and thanks for the sacrifices we have made. Quite often, the gifts we receive make us feel obligated to our givers. So Jesus wants us to learn how to love selflessly and unconditionally.Secondly, we are called to hate ourselves as well. Again, this has to be seen in perspective. Hating ourselves is not to be taken negatively. Or else how do we reconcile that in the gospel, Jesus told the rich man that the greatest commandments are to love God, our neighbor and ourselves. To hate oneself is a metaphor for being able to practice self-denial, mortification and sacrifice. If one is not able to die to small deaths, how can one die to big deaths? How can we become martyrs for Christ to the extent of shedding our blood for Him as He did on the cross if we cannot deny ourselves of some pleasure derived from food and things that are sensual? To love means that we are willing to discipline ourselves like an athlete, so that we can become true disciples of Jesus. One who is ill disciplined cannot call himself a disciple since a Christian disciplines himself after Christ.Thirdly, we are required to give up our possessions. He said, “So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.” We can respond like St Francis of Assisi and many other saints who took this command literally, selling everything they had to give to the poor and follow Christ. Such utter giving is truly a grace and a charism that is possible only to those inspired by the Lord. This would be a real giving of oneself entirely to the Lord. A person who is able to do so will achieve ultimate freedom, not just from people but from things.Yet, for most of us, we are not expected to give up everything but at least to not be possessive of them. We are called to see that all that we have are given by God; that nothing belongs to us, not even our loved ones but that we are merely custodians. This principle will remind us that all that we have are meant to be shared, regardless of talents, wealth and resources. Our lives are to be lived in such a way that our blessings are meant for others. We are called to bless and enrich others with whatever we have been given by the Lord. By giving away what we receive, we find true freedom and a participation in the joy and love of God who gives Himself unceasingly to us.However, the real reason for giving up our possessions, which includes our personal talents, is because Jesus wants us to experience the power and providence of God’s love and mercy. So long as we can rely on our talents and resources, we do not really need the assistance of God. Only when we experience our finitude and helplessness, only when we live in total dependence on the Lord each day, will we be able to encounter His love and mercy which will come to us in ways unimaginable and miraculous. For this reason, Jesus in the beatitudes tells us that the blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.Finally, the price of discipleship is really this: to carry the cross and come after Him. “Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” To be a Christian is not to pamper oneself and fulfill one’s personal desires, or worse still, his or her ambitions. A Christian is one who carries his cross daily. This implies a life of sacrifice, a life of self-denial, a life that makes us grow in love for others. We are called to offer our pains, sacrifices and services for the love of God and others. We should be thankful that Jesus did not ask us to carry His cross but ours. We will not be able to carry His cross but we can carry the small crosses of self-denial, mortifications, purification in love and service, conquering our sins, especially the capital sins. Until we die more and more to ourselves, our ability to love God and His people is in doubt.From the aforesaid, it seems therefore that the call to discipleship is truly demanding. Yet Jesus wants us to be realistic and count the cost. We want the good things of life but without a price. The great things in life always come at a price. This is the real mistake. Many people in the world seek cheap grace, a grace without commitment, without sacrifices, without conversion, without a change of lifestyle, without following the way of Jesus. This kind of conversion will not bring life at all but only a deception.That is why Jesus invites us to consider carefully the cost of discipleship. He tells us the parable of the builder and the general who goes to battle. Yet, the truth is that in giving up a mediocre and inward looking life, we will find a greater joy and peace that the world cannot give.Most of all, those who follow this way of life finds true freedom in Christ. We are no longer slaves to the world or our passions. We are no longer just living for ourselves or loving in an exclusive manner, wanting to possess those whom we love and what we have, but we are free to give and to love without the need to worry about our future or our security since our faith in Christ is our security and our true freedom and joy.Such a life truly gives real meaning and purpose. What greater vocation in life is there than to give oneself for the service of God and our fellowmen? In giving ourselves to others, we find life. Whether we are called to priestly, religious life or in whatever vocation the Lord has called us, it is a vocation of love and service. There is no other vocation.Life is short. We must live well, as the psalmist tells us, otherwise we will live in regret. We will never have any regrets if we know that we have given ourselves to our fellowmen. We will die in peace and our death would be but the concrete expression of a whole life of dying and giving to others. Such death is what I consider to be truly a holy death because it is a death that brings life to all.- See more at: http://www.csctr.net/reflections/#sthash.IJsJxWIA.dpuf