Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time - The Cost of Discipleship_090819

Deacon Tom Writes,

The Cost of Discipleship

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Take up thy cross, the Savior Said

If thou wouldst my disciple be;

Deny thyself, the world forsake,

And humbly follow after me.

These words from an old hymn capture the essence of our Gospel today. For in today’s Gospel Christ tells us that in order to be a true disciple, we will have to put some “skin in the game” so to speak. Being a disciple of Christ will cost us some relationships, some status, some sleepless nights. For Jesus did not take on our human nature to sit around the fire and sing Kumbaya. Quite the opposite as we heard Christ say several weeks ago "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!”

We have been listening to Luke’s gospels for a number of weeks now. He has been leading us into a deeper relationship with Jesus by telling us to separate ourselves from the things of this world and to work for treasures that will last. Indeed, Luke urges us to set ourselves apart from all that would separate us from God.

I know that this is difficult to do. We live in the physical world and we work hard to gain the pleasures and comforts that it offers. Yet, we cannot lose focus on the spiritual realities that guide and govern our lives and give them their due. We cannot forget those who lack the basic necessities of life just because we are well fed and have a roof over our family.  We cannot be insensitive to those who are refugees just because we are safe and sound here in our country. We cannot forget the lonely, the suffering, the addicted, and discouraged just because we are healthy, healthy, befriended, and living the good life.

Taking up our crosses daily requires our willingness to surrender some of our creature comforts, some of our leisure time, and some of our self-centered way of thinking.  We need to place an emphasis on our spiritual life and well being so that we may be sensitive to the needs of those who are less fortunate than we are. This death to self by loving and serving others as Christ did is the one sure way to begin a life in the spirit in order to grow in the awareness of the needs of those we are called to love and serve. Again, growing our spiritual lives is not an easy task but one that will have its own reward in this life and in the world to come.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image Credit: Palamas Institute