In this week's Gospel, Jesus uses some strong and disturbing language with the crowds following Him: "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." How should we understand these words which seem so definitively cold and dismissive? Well, what helps me understand Jesus' message is to keep the tension He invokes by playing the word hate off of its opposite: love. We might imagine Jesus' words in the following way, "Unless I am your first and only love, you cannot be My disciple."
Jesus clearly implies more than preferring Him or even prioritizing Him alongside other loves. He needs to be in a totally different and transcendent category from everyone and everything else that demands our love, time, and attention. Does Jesus want us to love ourselves, our family and our friends? Without hesitation - YES! But all of these creaturely loves are categorically different from and below the love of God our Creator. At the same time, God who is Love itself is the origin and source of everything and everyone else we are called to love. Thus, we are called to love God in all things and above all things.
Think of it this way: you may love the lines and characters from your favorite show, but the author of that show cannot be reduced to a line or a character - the author is operating on a totally separate playing field, even as his or her creativity imbues the show with his or her creative genius. Jesus invites us not only to reconnect everything and everyone we love back to love of God, but to love God our Creator in such a way that our love for God can never be compromised by any earthly love, no matter how strong or powerful that love may be.
Jesus testifies by His life what the love of God in all things and above all things looks like. His love for the Father can never be compromised by any earthly love. At the same time, His infinite love and mercy for me and for you is a direct result of His unconditional love for the Father. Jesus demands that we love God and our neighbor in the same way. May our love for God be uncompromised by any other love so that we might have a truly unconditional love for God, neighbor, and our very selves.
Please know that a pregnancy resource guide put together by our Geauga Pro-Life Coalition is available in our info racks and on the ledge in our parish office. I invite you to take a copy if you or someone you know is struggling with a crisis pregnancy, or if you would just like to know more about all the good works and resources available locally.
We have also reserved a spot in the front lot for clergy parking so that priests coming for Mass have easy access to the church if they are running late or carrying supplies with them.
Sometimes, that applies to Fr. Spisak or me taking things back and forth between the rectory or St. Pat's, but it's also for our visiting clergy who may have multiple Masses and are pressed for time traveling from one church to another.
We will celebrate Labor Day with Mass on Monday, September 5 at 9:00 a.m. I invite you to join us for Mass and to thank the Lord for the gift of our daily labor.
Next weekend, we will be hearing about the upcoming “Faithfully United” Program at Saint Mary Parish. This effort is very important as we move forward with the mission and vision of our parish. As a parish family, we have changed so many lives in our community! In order to continue our mission and ministries, I encourage you to spend time in prayer and discussion with your family reflecting on the work we do. I have included a special Stewardship Prayer below to help you pray towards a renewal of your commitment to love of God and neighbor. Our special Commitment Weekend will be celebrated the weekend of September 17 and 18. If you have any questions regarding the “Faithfully United” Program, please feel free to contact me.
Stewardship Prayer My parish is composed of people like me. I help make it what it is. It will be friendly, if I am. It will be holy, if I am. Its pews will be filled, if I help fill them. It will do great work, if I work. It will be prayerful, if I pray. It will make generous gifts to many causes, if I am a generous giver. It will bring others into worship, if I invite and bring them in. It will be a place of loyalty and love, of fearlessness and faith, of compassion, charity, and mercy, if I, who make it what it is, am filled with these same things. Therefore, with the help of God, I now dedicate myself to the task of being all the things that I want my parish to be.