HOMILY WEEK 31 03 – Year II
Disciples as Taking Up and Letting Go
(Phil 2:12-18; Ps 27; Lk 14:25-33)
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While in Newfoundland conducting a retreat for priests in the Diocese of Corner Brook-Labrador, this prairie boy enjoyed observing the tide come in and go out. It was like a relentless mantra – high tide pushing towards the shore and hours later, low tide washing out to the ocean, a pattern going on since time immemorial.
The readings today invite us to be open to a similar spiritual pattern in our lives as disciples, followers of Jesus – taking up and letting go. Daily we are to take up our crosses, and daily we are to practice a spirituality of letting go, by letting go of all the negative realities in our lives. These two dynamics are meant, like the tide, to be our way of life as followers of Jesus.
Jesus opens the gospel with a very unusual invitation to follow him – the necessity of taking up the cross, and sacrifice one’s own life to his cause. That cross will be unique to each person in his or her own life situation. It might be something over which we have no power – an addicted spouse, a rebellious child, a physical illness, an unjust situation at work, discrimination of some kind, etc.
Whatever that cross is, it will involve some kind of suffering. That is our most basic human reality – suffering will come to everyone born into this world. Philosophers and sages have struggled with this question of the mystery of evil and suffering from the beginning of time. The Buddha decided to let go of all human desire as a way of handling, which works to a certain extent for some, but in the end is still a way of trying to avoid suffering.
We are so privileged as Christians to have the answer to suffering – not to its existence, but how to deal with it. Jesus has shown us the way – embrace it and transform it! That is what he did – out of obedience to reveal the depth of the Father’s love for humanity, Jesus freely accepted suffering, humiliation, poverty, physical pain, torture and finally crucifixion, only to transform it into the new life through his resurrection.
The key for us is to accept inconvenience and suffering in whatever shape it comes to us as he did – without bitterness or resentment. It is suffering, especially when accepted in this spirit, that will shape our character, strengthen our will, clarify our vision, deepen our wisdom, and above all, help us grow in love and forgiveness, as well as peace and joy. In this way, we become radical disciples and our pain becomes redemptive suffering with profound meaning and purpose
Jesus ends today’s gospel with a different kind of invitation – to let go of all our possessions. Here too we need a certain spiritual maturity in interpreting his words. I don’t think he means living in poverty and destitution, although some over the years, like St. Francis and St. Clare, have taken this quite literally.
I think the possessions we have to let go can be described as the painful emotions we cling too like anger and resentment flowing out of our refusal to forgive. These possessions include negative attitudes like false pride, stubborn self-will, self-righteousness, selfishness, narcissism, tendency to judge others, denial, blame, self-pity, etc., as we cling to our victim status at all costs. They can be our addictions, whether process or chemical, by which we seek to medicate our inner pain and try to avoid suffering. These are the possessions we are to relinquish if we want to follow Jesus and experience his peace and joy in our hearts.
In the first reading to his beloved Philippians, St. Paul fleshes out more fully what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. We are to be accountable to each other and especially to those in authority over us, as they were to him. He reminds them God is at work in them, helping them “to will and to work” for God’s good pleasure. To will what God wills for us, and to work at loving as Jesus loved us – is what it means to be a disciple.
Paul also counsel them to “hold fast to the word of life” that will allow him to boast about them to God in the end. We are to pray with, read, ponder the Word of God, the scriptures. Psalm 27 encourages us to wait for the Lord. These two teachings are urging us, I believe, to spend more time in contemplative prayer, just being with the Lord, in his presence, and soaking up his love. And as we become more and aware of how loved we are, as we soak up more and more of God’s unconditional love for us, we will be able to take up our cross to follow him, practice that spirituality of letting go, so we can be glad and rejoice with St. Paul
In a book on Carmelite Spirituality I Want To See God, St. Theresa of Avila stresses the importance of focusing on Jesus, of never straying from him. She can be our inspiration to be the kind of disciple she was, a woman religious, a mystic, a person of deep profound prayer, yet also a woman of strong will, determination and action, founding convents and reforming religious life.
The Eucharist is our banquet of new life, a most effective way of holding on to the Word of Life and leading us more and more into holiness as disciples of Jesus.
May our celebration empower us to take up our cross daily, let of any unhelpful possessions, follow Jesus more closely and be glad and rejoice with St. Paul.
