Older Catholics may remember occasions when religious women—the sisters who taught in our parish schools and staffed our nursing homes—were severely limited in their contacts with their families and their lay associates. There were tales of sisters not being allowed to attend wakes, funerals, weddings and other family and community observances as part of their renunciation of the world and its allurements. Even eating in public by religious women was frowned upon. No ice cream cones! And these were not cloistered religious but rather parish and neighborhood women serving the Church in the world as educators and caregivers. Today, such practices are a distant and confusing memory as many religious women take a more integral role in parish and church life.
Yet, with due respect, Jesus himself can seem to be outlandish in his demands from his followers especially as reported in the Gospel of St. Luke. This coming Sunday, worshippers at Mass will hear some of the Master’s most challenging words: “Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, saying: ‘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.’” (Lk 14:25) This same Sunday Gospel passage will conclude with equally chilling and challenging words: “In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14:33) So the stark curtailment of personal relationships and material possessions is required of every authentic follower of Jesus Christ. These are indeed severe requirements. And just to be clear, Jesus offers himself and his own dreadful self-renunciation as the measure by which an authentic Christian is to be esteemed: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14:28)
St. Luke is not alone in being frank about the costs of discipleship. St. Matthew has a quite similar message: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 10:38-39) Family and even life itself must take second place to the absolute dedication involved in following Jesus. And this challenge is meant not only for ordained clergy and vowed religious but for every sincere follower of the Master.
Now to be sure, Jesus does not abruptly force these severe requirements on his dedicated followers. In the same breath, Christ advises his disciples to take time to ponder and appreciate exactly what being a dedicated Christian entails.
“Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion?” (Lk 14:30) And again, “What king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?” (Lk 14:31) So commitment to Christ cannot be simply a question of following strict rules and regulations. Blind obedience might easily lead to bitterness and resentment.
No, loyalty and devotion to Christ must flow from the mind and the heart. Such fidelity is the fruit of prayer and reflection which convinces the soul that Christ and his Gospel are worthy of any personal sacrifice, any self-denial, any human cost. The earnest believer must first “sit down,” as today’s Gospel suggests, or kneel down, as the lives of the saints certainly advocate. At prayer, the dramatic example of Christ’s own sacrifice on the cross along with the two millennia pattern of commitment and devotion found in the lives of the saints will assuredly bring to life the weighty teachings found in the Scriptures and the substantial graces offered in the sacraments. Prayer is the path to complete commitment.
Jesus admittedly set his standards very high. “Hating” the comforts and consolations of family life, as St. Luke instructs, is a very tall order. And total renunciation of material goods in a world where homelessness is thought to be a scandal is equally hard to figure out. Yet these are the measures of Christian commitment that the Savior demands. An authentic religious life demands such weighty calls be bravely faced.
